Roberto Ghione talks with Cornelio Cervantes, the first president of the Pacific District.

TIJUANA, MEXICO (May 11, 2016) — The Pacific District of the Covenant Church of Mexico (IEMP) was formed and its first officers elected at a historic meeting here on April 29.

Cornelio Cervantes, a national missionary from Oaxaca, was elected the first president. The IEMP will officially recognize the district at their Annual Meeting, which will be held July 28–30.

In August 2012, several churches that had been loosely connected with the Covenant Church of Mexico met with the denomination’s then president Gamaliel Adame, as well as pastor Roberto Ghione of Nueva Esperanza (New Hope Covenant Church) in Simi Valley, California, and retired missionary Nancy Reed.

“As a result of this meeting, the pastors began meeting every other month to visit and support one another, get to know the Covenant better, and continue to promote unity,” Reed said. The meetings eventually included a family retreat in August each year.

In 2015, Marisol Martinez, president of the Covenant Church of Mexico, met with the pastors, who said they were excited about the possibility of joining the denomination. The area included in the new district is Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora, Nayarit, Colima, Jalisco, and Michoacan.

Ed Delgado, president of Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos (CHET), the ECC Hispanic leadership training center in Compton, California, delivered the message at the gathering, and Ghione represented the ECC and the Ministry of Hispanic Covenant Churches in the United States (MHIPE).

CHET has offered several extension classes to the pastors, including pastoral counseling, led by Jorge Maldonado, the school’s previous president.