Baker Proud Spring 2015 - (Page 22)
Serving God
R
n for
Passio
etired from a career as an accountant, financial
planner, controller and insurance adviser, Mike
Farmer, BS '69, is dedicated to serving God
and loving his people through prison ministry.
Farmer has traveled to jails and prisons throughout the
Kansas City area as part of the Gracious Promise Foundation and Jacob's Well Prison Ministries.
Baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, Farmer has relied on the biblical verse Matthew 25:36 to guide
him for 30 years after his pastor asked him to volunteer behind the walls of the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing,
Kan. The verse resonated with him: I needed clothes and
you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was
in prison and you came to visit me.
"When I go behind the walls, I see Jesus in each one
of the people I see," Farmer says. "Every life is valuable,
every person is worth redemption, every heart has made
mistakes and needs a second chance. Who am I to judge?"
He sees people incarcerated for different reasons.
Farmer tries to connect with them in a chapel service or
individually through prayer and hymns such as "I'll Fly
Away," "Washed in Blood" and "Just as I Am."
"Those hymns really touch you," Farmer says. "The
prisoners need this, being in chapel and praising Jesus. It
provides some freedom for them to break the routine of
being locked up in those archaic cells."
In addition to trips to Lansing, Farmer travels to the
United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Army barracks
in Leavenworth, jails and juvenile centers in Johnson
County and the Topeka (Kan.) Correctional Facility. He is
especially fond of the work being done in Topeka, where
Baker University students participate in an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.
Farmer financially supports Baker's involvement with
the program. His gifts cover the costs of books and travel,
allowing Baker students in a criminal justice course to
travel weekly to the facility to study along and share stories
with incarcerated women. He also provides T-shirts for the
photos by earl richardson
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baker Proud Spring 2015
Campus News
Alumni Faculty
Thirst for Knowledge
Mungano Momentum
Alumni Notes
Finding His Calling
Let Thy Praises Ring
Vietnam Documentary
Alumni Weekend
Prison Fellowship
Anatomy of a Student
100th Doctoral Graduate
Sports Highlights
Event Calendar
Baker Proud Spring 2015
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/Summer2019
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/Summer2018
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/Fall2017
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/Spring2017
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/fall2016
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/spring2016
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/bakp/fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/bakp/spring2015
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