Frances Brickle, a resident of Bethea Baptist Retirement Community, has lunch with Richard McLawhorn, president of South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging. Mrs. Brickle was McLawhorn’s Sunday school and Vacation Bible School teacher when he was a child. Her husband, the late Rev. Archie Brickle, baptized McLawhorn 50 years ago.As he nears the first-hundred-days mark in his tenure as president of South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging, Richard McLawhorn has proven himself a tireless and tenacious champion for the cause of ministry to retired senior adults.
With evangelistic fervor, he seizes the opportunity to remind a listener of the biblical imperative to look after widows and orphans, to do good to all people (especially fellow believers), to love one another.
And when McLawhorn retells the gospel account of Bartimaeus, his voice falters momentarily as he describes the blind man along the side of the road whose pleas Jesus heard even as the crowd shushed him.
“We should be concerned about those people who get left on the side of the road,” McLawhorn said, “and that’s what sometimes happens to a widow or widower.
“Jesus calls us to a different standard. It’s one thing to say we’re a Baptist ministry and we believe Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. It’s another thing to say we are going to be intentionally Christ-centered by doing our best to incorporate the gospel of Jesus Christ in everything we do.
“That’s not just window dressing. We’re talking about really practicing the Christian faith in all aspects of the way we do our business.”
McLawhorn, a pastor and former government lawyer, was named president of SCBMA on Jan. 19. He comes into office at a pivotal time in the life of the ministry. Last year, SCBMA suffered from suffocating operating deficits and faced the real prospect of selling its two retirement centers, Martha Franks in Laurens and Bethea in Darlington.
However, the South Carolina Baptist Convention provided a surprise allocation of $440,000 to the ministry, and South Carolina Baptists rallied with a groundswell of emotional support and a record-setting $1.2 million Mother’s Day offering, prompting SCBMA trustees to back away from talk of selling.
Lester P. Branham Jr., chairman, Baptist Healthcare System of South Carolina, presents a check to Richard McLawhorn, president of South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging. Baptist Healthcare System of South Carolina donated $50,000 for the Mother’s Day Offering to support the ministry.The influx of cash bought needed time for the ministry while the board of trustees put into place strict spending and management measures that have reversed the operating deficits.
In the first six months of fiscal 2004-05, Bethea lost about $700,000, McLawhorn said. A year later, the ministry is in the black, if only slightly.
“We’re spending money more wisely and doing things differently,” said McLawhorn. “We’re more current in billing. It all has to do with management practices.”
Bethea has seen a 55 percent increase in the number of residents in its skilled-care unit and a 130 percent increase in the number of Medicare residents. There are plans to convert office space to rooms for more beds in the skilled-care area.
Amid the positive signs, though, McLawhorn cautioned South Carolina Baptists not to think all the financial problems have been solved.
“We are not facing the immediate crisis that we had last year, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said.
The ministry still faces significant challenges, including paying off a long-term construction bond (currently about $5.8 million) and the ongoing struggle to update older buildings and equipment.
To that end, he hopes churches and individuals will come through with at least $750,000 in this year’s Mother’s Day Offering. “That’s the minimum,” he said. “We’re hoping a lot more will come in.”
McLawhorn said he believes South Carolina Baptists will come through, based on “the depth of commitment of our people to this ministry” he has sensed when speaking in churches across the state.
“I see God moving in ways in our ministry that spiritual discernment simply cannot deny,” he said. “I sense something very powerful spiritually going on.”