Chesapeake Conference Installs Jenner Becerra as Pastor of Linthicum Church

Chesapeake Conference leaders installed Jenner Becerra as pastor of Linthicum Church in Linthicum, Md., during a Sabbath service on Sept. 12, 2026.

The installation formally welcomed Becerra as pastor of Linthicum Church and Friendship School and launched a new partnership between Linthicum Church and Living Word Church, which will now work together as one district under his leadership.

Becerra began serving Living Word Church in August. Conference leaders identified him as a fit for Linthicum Church after Bob Uhrig, the congregation’s previous pastor, moved into a new role as the Chesapeake Conference’s stewardship and development director. Conference officials met with the boards of both congregations before finalizing the change.

Pastor Marilyn Scott, Executive Secretary for the Chesapeake Conference, led the installation and delivered a charge to Becerra and the congregation. She said Becerra brings experience in evangelism, church planting, community engagement, discipleship, and pastoral care to bilingual, multicultural congregations, and has trained extensively in Clinical Pastoral Education.

“I hereby charge you to preach the word of God clearly, courageously, and compassionately,” Scott told Becerra. “Build up the body of Christ by word and example. … Love and lead the people.”

Elders and pastors gathered around Becerra and laid hands on him in a prayer of dedication. Church elders then welcomed him and presented gifts, including flowers for his wife, Oksana, who watched the service online, and a blanket for the couple’s one-year-old son, Gabriel. Linthicum Church members represent at least 13 nationalities and speak languages including Spanish, Swahili, and Chichewa.

Becerra, who was ordained in 2020, was born in Peru and moved to the United States in 2002. He closed the service by preaching a sermon titled “Go Tell It on the Mountains,” drawing on a mission trip in which he and his wife climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

“It is an honor for me to start this new journey with you at Linthicum,” Becerra said. “May we work together, and may we be able to know each other, right? May we be able to joke around with one another, but more importantly, may we cry together.”

To know more about Linthicum Church, please visit the church website here.