On June 10, 2023, fifty-three delegates and approximately thirty guests met on the campus of Templo Gethsemani in Commerce City, Colorado, for the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) Quadrennial Conference. Pastor Jerimie and wife, Ashley Olvera, RMC Assistant Conference Superintendent, served as the gracious host pastors.
In attendance at the conference session were several gifted leaders who have served and continue to serve the IPHC including Rev. Brian & Carole Burgess, former IPHC Missionaries to South Africa and Zambia who have served in the Rocky Mountain Conference for 42 years; Rev. Dawn Meyers, former IPHC missionary to South Africa and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire who was recently installed as the senior pastor of Trinity Christian Fellowship; Rev. Ben West, IPHC missionary to Peru; Rev. Stephen Hanscom, Vice-President of Lending Services, IPHC Extension Loan Fund; and Mrs. Alicia Henson, Loan Clerk, IPHC Extension Loan Fund.
On the General Conference-mandated ‘majority vote’ to determine the Rocky Mountain Conference’s desire regarding term limits for all Conference Executive Council members, the vote was thirty-five in favor of eliminating term limits and ten votes in favor of retaining term limits.
Bishop Larry Herrera has served RMC as its Conference Superintendent for the past 13 years (3 consecutive terms). Following the conference’s decision to eliminate term limits, RMC delegates demonstrated a great confidence and trust in Bishop Herrera and his wife, June, as they were re-elected for a fourth term of service as Conference Superintendent on the first ballot. The remainder of the five-member Conference Executive Council was elected as follows: Rev. Jerimie Oliviera as Assistant Conference Superintendent, Rev. Jim Martinez (unopposed and declared elected unanimously by acclamation) as Treasurer, and Rev. Rosy Olivas and Rev. Bruce Heil as the required two-members at large.
L-R: Bruce Heil, Jerimie and Ashley Olvera, Larry and June Herrera, James and Diane Martinez, and Adrian and Rosalba (Rosy) Oliva
Before the session concluded, the Conference made an influential adoption to their Covenant of Commitment. The added commitment, brought to the floor by Jon and Angie Burgess, reads as follows:
We respond to Christ’s call to love all our neighbors as we love ourselves by caring for the fatherless, the widow, the voiceless, and “the least of these.” We affirm every human being is created in the image of God, is set apart, and is unique from all other creatures. We affirm that life begins at the moment of fertilization/conception and therefore has been given the right to life from the moment of fertilization/conception to natural death, and unjustly taking the life of an image bearer/person at any stage of his or her development is murder. Therefore, we affirm the call for the immediate abolition of legalized euthanasia and human abortion in all its forms (chemical and medical procedure), without exception. We oppose all abortifacient drugs marketed as contraception (ingested, injected, or worn) that create a hostile environment for a human embryo/person. We oppose human cloning, embryonic research, in vitro fertilization/IVF (creating, freezing, and/or discarding human embryos) and all medical practices that result in the intentional death of a human embryo/person. We believe in doing everything possible to save both baby and mother in ectopic pregnancy. We believe in equal protection of the law for both mother and preborn child. We celebrate adoption. We believe that the Gospel of Jesus’ saving grace is the cure to sin. It is our joy as the church to tangibly hope mothers, fathers, and all those in need as we minister the Gospel and protect our preborn neighbors (Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 22:36-40, Proverbs 24:11).
Bishop Larry and June Herrera are faithful servants to Christ and His Church. It is always a joy and honor to serve them, the Rocky Mountain Conference Executive Council, and this part of our IPHC family.
