For Ben and Polly Davis, Connie Maxwell is ‘place of hope’

Driving a visitor along the shady streets and country lanes of Connie Maxwell Children’s Home in Greenwood, Ben Davis clearly loves the “teaching farm” tucked away on a few acres in the southwest corner of the campus — not only for its tranquility, but also for the therapeutic role the farm plays in healing hurting children. Some of them find a measure of peace in the simple acts of feeding, brushing and caring for a horse.

But ask Davis, who retired as the children’s home president on Sept. 1, to name his favorite spot on campus, and he will point to the spire of Connie Maxwell Baptist Church, rising above the oaks. “I see that church every day, right in the center of the campus,” he said, “and I am reminded that Christ and the church are at the center of what we do.”

The church building also holds special meaning for Davis’ wife, Polly, who, as Connie Maxwell’s director of volunteer services, has led tours of the sanctuary and studied the faceted-glass windows depicting scenes from Christ’s ministry. She says the church is a “place of hope” for children.

“They may leave here and forget what we’ve done for them,” she said, “but if they have found their hope in Jesus Christ in that church, that is the best thing we could ever do for them.”

If Connie Maxwell Baptist Church is their favorite spot on campus, the one thing both say they will miss most is seeing people’s lives changed — the lives of the children as well as those who minister to them.

A turnaround for an abused or abandoned child might occur as early as a few weeks after arriving on campus to live in one of the group homes. “They come into the program, and I see them with their eyes down and their shoulders slumped,” said Ben. “They don’t know a lot about this place, and they’re probably afraid.

“Then, two weeks or a month later, I’ll see them out on the ball field, playing and yelling and being kids again, like they’re supposed to. They’ll give me a good hug — something they wouldn’t have done on their first day — and I’ll see the sparkle in their eyes and know they realize their lives can be better than before.

“I’ll miss seeing those kids help change their lives.”

Polly said she will miss her role as “enabler” for the volunteers from churches and other supporting organizations. “These people are already Christians, but they come here and lose themselves for somebody else and, in the process, find themselves,” she said.

Ben-and-PollyThe circumstances that led the Davises to Connie Maxwell were God’s ordered steps for them, Ben said. Early in their marriage, they were active leaders in their church, he as a deacon and she as WMU director. They were asked to start a Sunday school class for young married couples, where, Polly said, they “saw the struggles families and children were facing.” They led marriage retreats, and one of the things they taught couples was the importance of “coming together as a team and incorporating children into making the family a unit to glorify God,” she said.

Ben’s experience as a business owner (including a radio station and a newspaper) and as Fountain Inn’s mayor for 12 years, and Polly’s work as office manager for the family’s businesses, also set the stage for service in leadership positions at Connie Maxwell.

Ben was asked to become a trustee in 1990. “We both loved the place, but we didn’t expect God to lead us here [as employees],” Ben said.

Three years later, when Jimmy McAdams was elected president following the untimely death of Heyward Prince in a car accident, McAdams asked Ben to join the Connie Maxwell staff as vice president of business and development.

In 1997, McAdams and Connie Maxwell trustees asked Polly to become a staff member and develop a comprehensive volunteer-services program for the children’s home. “She birthed that thing from a very small beginning to one of the best volunteer programs around,” said Ben. “I’ve always said she is my job security.” Last year, nearly 3,000 volunteers logged more than 13,000 hours in support of Connie Maxwell.

When McAdams departed in 2002, trustees tapped Ben to lead Connie Maxwell. During his service as president and, prior to that, as vice president for business and development, Davis helped extend the ministry of the children’s home to satellite locations around the state. He also worked with donors to grow Connie Maxwell’s endowment to the point that it now provides about 40 percent of the ministry’s operating income. Without the larger endowment, the recession that began in 2008 would have been “extremely difficult,” especially given the decrease in Cooperative Program funding to the ministry in recent years.

Also, in May of last year, Connie Maxwell trustees decided not to sign a contract with South Carolina’s Department of Social Services because the attendant guidelines would have been “too invasive on what we were trying to do as a Christian organization,” said Davis. “It was important to the board, and to me, that we stay true to who we are.”

Ending the relationship with DSS could have meant the loss of up to 40 children (Connie Maxwell serves about 200 children annually) and about $750,000 in revenue, Davis said. But, a year later, the ministry is serving more children than it was while partnering with DSS. Children at Connie Maxwell today are placed by their parents, grandparents or other legal guardians, but the children come without financial support from the state coffers, Davis said. He said churches have responded and have said they want to help more. “We haven’t made up all that money, but we’re on the way,” he said.

When Davis announced last November his intention to retire this year, board chairman Randy Keasler praised his service and said the ministry was “on the right track for future success and … is operating as well or better than it has in years.”

With the DSS question settled and the institution operating soundly, Davis, 69, said he feels the time is right “to pass the mantle to the next president.” Randy Harling, former pastor of Simpsonville First Baptist Church, will become president of Connie Maxwell in September (see related story).

Davis said his service at Connie Maxwell “has been the most rewarding and satisfying work I’ve ever done.” When he steps down, his wife will also retire. “We’re a team,” she said.

Said her husband: “We’re leaving here because we feel God brought us here, and he’s telling us now it’s time to move on.”

The Davises will remain in Greenwood. Their grandchildren are nearby. They have no definite plans for the future, but they are not a “sit at home and rock” kind of people, Ben said.

Polly said they are “trusting that the Lord will tell us what to do” in retirement. “He’s been gracious right now not to give [those plans] to us, not clouding our minds with other things to think about right now.”

She added that she expects her husband to “chill” for at least the first two weeks of retirement. After that, “we’re open to what God has planned for us,” said Ben.