First Baptist Church minister Bob Farmer recently retired but is still finishing the sanctuary renovations that began under his leadership.
Farmer has been at the church for 40 years, beginning when the Christian Life Center was built. Hired as the minister of recreation, he was responsible for the facility that originally had a gymnasium, four bowling lanes, and programs for recreational ministry.
“It was an outreach for First Baptist Church – the first introduction for some to the church and then to connect into the life of the church as a whole,” he said.
For 23 years, Farmer was the recreation minister, something he felt called to when he began seminary after working in Somerset as a youth recreational and senior adult minister.
Owensboro’s First Baptist Church was looking for a recreational minister in 1984, and then-pastor Dr. David Nelson was friends with an Owensboro native at Somerset, Eldred Taylor.
“He asked for my resume and I said it was up to God at that point,” Farmer said. “In the conversation, I felt this was the place for me to come.”
Farmer said one of the greatest things about working in recreational ministry was that he was able to work with all generations in the life of the church.
“It allowed me to get to know multi-generations of families and get a strong feeling of the church as a whole just because I had the opportunity to work with all age groups,” he said.
After serving as a recreational minister, Farmer transitioned into an administrative role at First Baptist as a senior adult minister and church administrator.
“I don’t know that I saw it as my path in seminary; I took some administrative classes and I am a more detailed type of person,” he said. “As I transitioned into admin, I didn’t have as much opportunity and I lost some of the connections with the younger generations.”
Farmer said one of the biggest changes he has seen is the loyalty people feel to their church.
“It was so strong,” he said. “Future generations are not like the past and this is going on in churches as a whole.”
Farmer feels fortunate for the career he has at First Baptist and the congregation that has allowed him to be involved in the lives of so many families.
“What it did for me is it allowed me to be involved as more than a minister,” he said. “I intersected into their lives in a deeper way. I am a relational person – that’s how I see myself – and I have been able to enter into their family.”
When the renovation of the sanctuary is complete — a project scheduled to wrap up in March 2024 — and his wife retires from teaching, they hope to travel and enjoy life and retirement.
He has served on local boards and hopes to continue to be involved in the community.
“I like to be involved in organizations that help others because I am community-oriented and will find more because that’s where my heart is,” he said. “I want to continue to do something.”
