South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging, headquartered in Columbia at the SC Baptist Convention Building, is managed by a board of trustees elected through the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Mr. Thomas P. Turner III is the President of the South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging.
The ministry operates two facilities, Bethea Baptist Retirement Community in Darlington and Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Community in Laurens. Thanks to a bequest by Dr. and Mrs. Percy Bethea, Bethea Baptist Retirement Community opened its doors in 1960. Bethea has a Cottage community, Independent Living, Home Health Services, Skilled Nursing Care and Rehabilitation Care. Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Community celebrates 25 years in 2010. Ms. Martha Linda Franks had a calling many years ago to begin a facility where senior adults could receive compassionate c
are in a Christian atmosphere. Ms. Franks had been a missionary to China for forty years. Her brother, Clyde Franks, had bought and restored the historic Italian villa that is located in Laurens on what is now the Martha Franks property. He had built a retirement cottage for his sister which is now one of the Cottages. Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Community also has Patio Homes, Apartments, Residential and Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing Care. Both communities are like its own small town with a library, beauty/barbershop, store, mail center and dining room.
