FORMER PASTOR
For nearly 26 years, the pastorate of Open Door Bible Baptist Church was within the capable hands of Pastor Ronnie Rogerson. When Pastor Rogerson resigned his position at Open Door, the church consisted of a stable nucleus of people who had been grounded in the scriptures; Pastor Rogerson also left the church financially stable and completely debt free.
PASTOR FARMER CALLED TO OPEN DOOR
On December 23, 2012, the Open Door Bible Baptist Church called Derek Farmer as its pastor. Pastor Farmer, his wife Elaine, and daughter Caroline came to Goose Creek from Hendersonville, NC where they had been working within the ministry of the Progress Baptist Church under Pastor Doug Raynes. While at Progress, Pastor Farmer did the work of an Evangelist as he waited for the next step within the Lord’s perfect plan for he and his family.
TESTIMONY
Pastor Farmer trusted Christ as his personal savior on September 14, 1978 as an 11 year old boy. Having been raised in church and in a christian home, he was quite familiar with the gospel story. Pastor Farmer was indeed blessed to have been raised by parents who loved him dearly, yet loved Jesus even more. Every church service found him sitting on the pew next to his family while his uncle, Pastor Eddie Calloway, preached the Word of God. It was while a member at Sugar Grove Bible Baptist Church that Pastor Farmer was called to preach on December 23, 1984.
After graduation from a Christian high school in 1986, Pastor Farmer attended Tabernacle Baptist Bible College for a period of time. It was while at Tabernacle that he came in contact with Pastor Larry K. Raynes who informed him of a church that was being planted in Pastor Farmer’s home state of Kentucky. Within a short time, Pastor Farmer returned to Kentucky to become a charter member of the Pleasant View Baptist Church under the ministry of Pastor J. Dale Massengale.
Having prayed for a wife for a number of years, the Lord sent him his wife, Elaine, while she was attending Bob Jones University and a member of Pleasant View Baptist Church in Taylors, SC where Dr. Larry K. Raynes was her pastor. They were married on May 5, 1990. In the years to follow, the Lord would give them twin sons, Randy and Will, another son, Matthew, and a daughter, Caroline.
Pastor Farmer would eventually spend most of the next 25 years working and learning under the ministry of Pastor Massengale and Pleasant View Baptist Church in McQuady, KY. Of those 25 years, Pastor Farmer spent 5 years in the state of Wyoming planting a church; he served as the Principal/Administrator of Pleasant View Baptist School for nearly 13 years, and taught the adult Sunday School class for about 20 years.
Pastor Farmer is thoroughly convinced that the Lord put three pastors in his life (Pastor Eddie Calloway, Pastor J. Dale Massengale, and Pastor Doug Raynes) to prepare him for the purpose of God which he is seeking to fulfill today.