Vanessa Alarcón – Denver, Colorado … Pastor Ruben Rivera, Hispanic Ministries Director, will retire from the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) after 36 years of ministry, March 31. Ruben is the longest serving Conference director. His wife, Patty Rivera, who is currently the Hispanic Women’s Ministries Director, and was a Children’s Ministries Director, will also end her service upon his retirement.
Ruben’s entry into ministry began when he visited a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mexico City, Mexico, when he was a teenager. “I heard a pastor preach for the first time,” he reminisced. “I remember hearing him teach God’s word and having a deep desire to do that someday.”
Ruben made the decision to be baptized at 16, the only individual in his family to have joined the faith. He quickly became involved with church leadership, becoming the Sabbath School director, assistant director of Personal Ministries, communication director, and head deacon of his local church while still a young teenager. He also was a colporteur.
His family was not originally supportive of his desire to study theology, especially his father. So opposed, that his father had threatened to estrange him from the family. And even then, Ruben chose to follow his calling and enrolled in courses at the University of Montemorelos in Mexico.
There, he was the director for the university’s Pathfinder and Adventures clubs. He graduated with his bachelor’s in theology in 1985. While he was studying, he met his wife, Patty Rivera, who was an international student from Peru studying nursing.
During his summers as a university student, Ruben was a colporteur and traveled to Mexico, the United States, and Puerto Rico sharing God’s word through literature evangelism.
Rubén’s journey in pastoral ministry began in 1985 in Mexico City, serving as an associate pastor before being entrusted with the care of seven congregations in the southern district of the city. After only a couple of years of service, they both moved to Illinois where Ruben attended the Northern Seminary to complete his master’s degree in theological studies.
Upon graduation, the Minnesota Conference offered him a pastoral position, helping establish Hispanic ministry in Minnesota from nine people to 60 in the first year. Throughout those years, Ruben and Patty had their three daughters, Evelyn, Vanessa, and Joanna.
From there, he served in the Michigan Conference as a pastor, Hispanic Ministries superintendent, and Hispanic Ministries coordinator. While he pastored, he completed an additional master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry and his Doctor of Ministry from Andrews University.
He later transitioned to a pastoral role in three different districts with the Georgia-Cumberland Conference before joining the Rocky Mountain Conference in 2006. There, he began serving as the pastor of Denver Hispanic (Pecos) and Denver Central. In 2008 he was transferred to the Denver South Hispanic. In 2010, he began serving as the Hispanic Coordinator for the RMC. He has had that role for the last 14 years.
Mic Thurber, RMC president, reminisced, “To see a faithful and fruitful Adventist worker retire is always bittersweet. Ruben and Patty have been a wonderful blessing to the Rocky Mountain Conference for so many years. Their kind and Jesus-like work among us will not soon be forgotten. It’s just hard to say goodbye to people you love and appreciate so much.”
“But we also send them on to their next phase of life with our best wishes and prayers,” Mic continued. “They have well earned this time of rest and we wish them Godspeed as they leave us. Thank you, Ruben and Patty, for your lives and ministry. You will be missed!”
Throughout his ministry, he has written various articles for El Centinela (Spanish version of Signs of the times) and Revista Adventista (Spanish version of the Adventist Review), and other publications outside of the United States. Just last year, he wrote the North American Division Missionary Book of the Year for Hispanic Ministries, entitled An Abundant Life. During his ministry he was a well-known speaker in the Hispanic community, and served in different events, such as: retreats, training, teaching, theological symposiums, weeks of prayer, and evangelistic series.
“From the first time I met them over 25 years ago, Pastor Ruben Rivera and his wife, Patty, have always been a tremendous and steady support to me personally. Their love for God and his people is very apparent in all that they do. What a joy it has been working together with them in the Rocky Mountain Conference to help support pastors and their families and lay leaders and their families,” shares Mickey Mallory, RMC ministerial director.
Mickey continued, “I honestly believe that there will be people in heaven because of their ministry. When reflecting upon their contribution to the Lord’s work, I can’t help but exclaim the words of Jesus, Well done, good and faithful servants (ESV, Matt. 25:23).”
Pastor Frank Wilson, RMC Pastor, has known Ruben since their shared time ministering at the Michigan Conference. Wilson describes him known for his humility and dedication to God’s work. “He never hesitated to make sacrifices for his family and God’s family … His advice, sermons, and interpersonal relationships were exemplary and worth emulating.”
—Vanessa Alarcón is elder and church clerk at Boulder Adventist Church. Photos by Rajmund Dabrowski.
