Dr. Farmer accepted the Lord at age eight, on 24 December 1950, and was baptized into Union Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio on 7 January 1951. He was active in many church groups while in his teenage years. While in college, he sang in Howard University's choir and sang with the chapel choir almost every Sunday. During his adult life, he increased his level of dedication to the Lord. In 1979, he was ordained as a deacon at Shiloh Baptist Church, Mclean, VA and later served as the superintendent of the Shiloh church Sunday School. He completed thirty-three years federal service, all in the Intelligence Community. This service included ten years as a regular officer in the U.S. Air Force (highest rank - captain), as well as twenty-three years at The Central Intelligence Agency. He was promoted to the Senior Intelligence Service (same as Senior Executive Service) in 1991 and achieved a grade equivalent to that of a two star general. He retired from CIA at the end of September 1997 and served as a consultant there from 1998-2007. He received numerous awards including the Distinguished Intelligence medal (highest non-combat medal awarded by CIA).
Throughout His adult life, Dr. Farmer felt the drawing power of a call to the gospel ministry. He tried to sublimate this call through church activities, but by October 1987, He yielded to the call and acknowledged the call to the ministry. He preached his first sermon on 3 January 1988 and has preached regularly since that time at churches throughout the local area. He was ordained as a Baptist minister on 20 May 1990 and has served as Pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church, Haymarket Virginia since April 1999. He also serves as a member of the Vice President’s Board of the Hampton Ministers’ Conference and was a speaker on the Senior Statesmen’s Panel at the 2006 Conference.
Dr. Farmer has always been a serious student. Consequently, he completed his formal academic studies at Howard University School of Divinity, earning MDIV and DMIN degrees. His DMIN thesis was declared the outstanding DMIN project for his graduating class (2002). In November 2007 he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Howard University School of Divinity at their annual Convocation Banquet. He also served as Special Consultant to the Dean of the School of Divinity from 1995-2007.
Dr. Farmer has been married to his wife, Loretta, for almost 55 years and they have two children (David and Dawn) and four grandchildren (all of whom attended college – with two earning their Bas, one in Psychology, and one in Speech Pathology and Linguistics).