About Us

We are a sovereign church that is affiliated with the Assemblies of God.

“There is one body and one Spirit… there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of us all…” Ephesians 4:4-6

“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls… So then, each of us will give and account of himself to God… So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.” Romans 14:1,4,12,22

“…if I hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but also the very secrets of God, and if I have the faith that can move mountains-but have not love, I amount to nothing at all.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 (Ph)

In the spring of 1921, several young ladies from a Methodist church in Sunnyvale went to the San Jose Upper Room Mission and were filled with the Holy Spirit. This church was an offshoot of the Azusa Street Revival that launched the modern Pentecostal movement in 1901. The ladies returned with great joy, which generated a hunger in the hearts of others. A number of people from a local Baptist church were also filled with the Holy Spirit. That same summer, the famous evangelist, Aimee Semple McPherson came to San Jose for a tent revival meeting and many people throughout the valley were saved including the Schliecker family and Adrian Hetebry who received healing and would later become our first pastor.

The revival spread to the youth of the Sunnyvale Methodist church, with many getting saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, there were some within the Methodist and Baptist churches that did not approve of modern day manifestations of the Holy Spirit. They told those who were conducting them to depart. The enthusiastic Pentecostal group was experiencing healings and miracles and still wanted to meet somewhere because their numbers were growing. Fortunately, the Schlieckers had a large, centrally located home and they offered it for Bible studies and prayer meetings. Some meetings were also held at the family home of C.J. Olson of the cherry stand fame.

The Olson family volunteered a cherry packing shed as the new church’s first meeting place. It was located on El Camino Highway and what at that time was the end of Mathilda Avenue. The Highway Pentecostal Mission held its first service on April 11, 1922. Brother Adrian Heetebry was in charge of the service and Brother Joseph Harper preached its first sermon. The original thirty-six members met originally by sitting on humble fruit boxes.

 Friends and members of the group donated items to make the packing shed more comfortable. Someone gave a rug. Brother Heetebry made a pulpit, and A Methodist woman loaned a pump organ. M. H. Broeder, though as yet unsaved, made benches for the church. Doors and windows were also added.

Many people do not realize that Pentecostals faced great persecution on the early days of the movement. They were often working class people of humble origins and they were teased as being uneducated and unsophisticated. Older, established churches saw them as a threat and publically denounced their teachings. The town rowdies in Sunnyvale sometimes threw rocks and eggs at the building. One Halloween, they tied ropes around the building and tried to tip it over. Fortunately, with God’s protection, everyone escaped through the windows without being hurt.

By August 6, 1922 a Sunday School was organized with Walter Hooper appointed as its first superintendent. Adrian Heetebry was elected the first pastor of the church on September 9, 1923. In 1923, the church moved to a rented store building on Murphy Avenue. In 1924, a new building was constructed on the corner of Washington and Carroll Streets. The church was formally incorporated in 1924. Six classrooms and an auditorium were added to the church in 1929. Additions were made to the building in 1945. The church added the Hendy home on Sunnyvale Avenue for additional Sunday school classrooms in 1953.

The Heetebreys received the call to the mission field and went to Fiji in 1926. They served there for many years and founded many churches. To this day, there are those in Fiji that trace their Christian rebirth to the founders, the Heetebrys. Other pastors that served after the Heetebrys included Esther Ensley & Elsie Olsen, J. Paul Thommen, Joseph Harper, Joseph Stark, Brother Polhemus, Albert A. Lowe, Martin Bohnett, James W. Belchar, Henry Carver, Albert Ogle, Claude Wood (later district superintendent), Mark Hinman, and Edward Gomes.

 In 1956, Pastor Ralph Hillegas purchased a property on the corner of Mary Avenue and Iowa. The new church was completed by November of 1957. It sat about 200 people and it was jammed to capacity. There was a back portion of the building behind a partition known as the fireside room that was opened during Sunday mornings to accommodate extra people. The church continued to grow and added a Sunday School wing in 1962. About this time the Royal Rangers and Missionettes programs were started by the Seabergs. In the 1960s the pastor was Bob Willis. He had rousing sermons of hellfire and calls to repentance as well as sermons of God’s tender loving and mercy. It was an enthusiastic and growing crowd with many young families as well as respected old saints, some of whom had been at the church since its founding. 

Many new families were moving to the area because of the booming aerospace industry. Housing was cheap and the pay for electronics and engineering jobs was good. The church also got a steady stream of Navy personnel who were stationed at Moffett Field that joined the church while they were in the area. The district headquarters was in Scott’s Valley, so the church always had a ready source of interns and pastoral candidates who were working there or attending nearby Bethany Bible College. There were very few large churches in the Santa Clara Valley in those days, so it was not uncommon to have families commute from neighboring communities throughout the area to attend the church. Traffic was very light in those days, so one could easily reach the church within a half hour drive from anywhere from Gilroy to Palo Alto. Sunnyvale First Assembly of God was a growing and vibrant church and people wanted to be a part of the excitement. 

Finally by the late 1960s, the church got so full that they decided to build a new sanctuary. The new sanctuary was dedicated on June 7, 1970. It was a beautiful state-of-the-art church. It had gorgeous woodwork and an attractive modern steeple. It had a large choir loft, a permanent, built-in baptistery, and a copious stage area. The Sanctuary seated about 500 people and also had a large balcony that sat perhaps another 200. It had a large foyer and a grand staircase leading up to the balcony. Many other churches in the area patterned their buildings after its advanced and attractive design. The old sanctuary became a fellowship hall, which was capable of hosting large banquets and other events. It had a full-sized kitchen. There were also numerous church offices, Sunday school rooms, apartments for some of the employees, and a large church library. It was a truly wonderful facility. Most people who attended there will tell you that it was the nicest church facility they have ever frequented. It had a large parking lot, but it was always full as well as the surrounding neighborhood. The church even owned several nearby houses that served as parishes for the ministers on staff.

When Eugene Ness became pastor in 1971, the church grew even more. He was a very charismatic pastor with lively, animated sermons. The anointing of the Holy Spirit was very evident during these times. Large numbers of people were baptized in the Holy Spirit. There were frequently messages in tongues with interpretation, prophecies, and miraculous healings, there were services with hundreds of people singing in the spirit and many being slain in the spirit or receiving visions. Soon they were holding two services on Sunday mornings and one on Sunday nights. There were always large crowds at the services. At one point, the church was holding an attendance competition with other local churches and briefly topped 800 people surpassing even Bethel Church of San Jose. The church added a second Sunday morning service to accommodate the crowds. There was a full set of Sunday school classes for every age group from preschool to adults. Each class had about 20 or more in attendance. There were also about 100 each of Missionettes, Royal Rangers and youth in attendance on Wednesday nights. The church had an active busing program, so there were always plenty of new visitors. 

The church tried many innovative ministries such as a school for piano, a sponsorship program similar to The Big Brother organization, and many other ministries. One of the keys to success was the outstanding music program under Bob Sapp. The church had a large choir that performed regularly in the services. The music was top notch. There were many talented musicians and artists in the church. Talent attracts talent and people came to the church because they heard of the great performances that were being done and the opportunities for ministry. The choir produced major musicals for the holidays and other times. These had a cast and choir of around 200 people. They were done with elaborate staging, costumes (some of which were from Hollywood), makeup, sound, lighting and special effects, and accompanied by a full orchestra. These productions involved the entire church. Everyone got involved. Many people were drawn to the church because of these performances. They were so popular that they sometimes had to add additional weekends to accommodate all the guests. They even performed once at the Sunnyvale Community Center.

Pastor Bob, as everyone called him, also led a very successful youth choir called Maranathas. This was a large choir of about 50-70 youth that toured many churches in Northern and Southern California and even went as far as Vancouver. They ministered to the church faithfully for many years and even produced a popular album! Many talented young people got their first training in this choir and are still serving in ministry in various capacities around the world. Pastor Bob, who was also the youth pastor, put a strong emphasis on the youth seeking God’s direction in their lives and ministry instead of just doing what the adults decided for them. This built a maturity of decision making in the youth. He also stressed alone times of seeking God through prayer and meditation on Scripture. Those who were a part of this choir and state that it had a tremendous impact on their lives. Youth choir is a great way to empower youth and help them find their place in ministry. Eventually, it got to be too much work for one person to do all of this, so the church brought in a series of successful youth ministers to aid in the work.

Throughout these years, the church sponsored many missionaries and several congregation members also were called to go to the mission field. When Cameron Wilson was elected Pastor in 1978, he put an even greater emphasis on missions. He preached about the history of missions and related his own experiences in the ministry. He held a series of dramas were actors portrayed famous missionaries sharing their burden for the lost. He encouraged the church to expand its support of missionaries even further and inspired many people from the congregation to do work on the mission field. He had experience in Christian broadcasting and had a very professional speaking style. He had even been Elvis’ youth pastor at one time. The great music ministry continued under the exuberant young Larry Wayne who had been a member of Oral Roberts ensemble in college. He used his connections to book a series of Christian performers to hold concerts at the church such as Lilly Knauls, John Hall, Evie Turnquist, and Tom Hetherington of the Lawrence Welk Show. We even had a concert by the Imperials!

The church also sponsored a Christian school as another form of outreach. It started small as a preschool in 1963 under Paul Seaberg. The school gradually kept adding grades each year until it went from K-6. A junior high school was added and the church began to rent a facility from a school that the district in Sunnyvale had temporarily closed. When the church added high school grades, it was clear that a new facility was needed. The middle school campus was soon to be no longer available as well. The facility on Mary was strained to capacity with each room being used many times a week for different ministries. The church began the search for a facility where everything could be held at the same location. There wasn’t anything available in Sunnyvale, but in neighboring Mountain View a Catholic school had recently closed. The church purchased this property and converted it to a church and a K-12 school. The church sold the property in Sunnyvale and moved to Mountain View. Hence it changed its name to Southbay Christian Center.

The church and school continued successfully under the direction of Albert Vaters in the 1980s. He became pastor in 1982. Pastor Vaters was known for his strong salvation messages and solid teaching. His favorite saying was “When I get to heaven, I want God to bounce a movie of that Bible scene off of a cloud so I can see it for myself!” He continued the church’s traditions of missions and music. Many musicals continued to be produced with large casts. The school’s ministry was dovetailed nicely with that of the church as well. Reverend George Smith served as senior pastor for just one year after Albert Vaters and then moved on to another ministry.

In the 1990s, the church was led by Ronald Bailey. Pastor Bailey was a compassionate pastor who did very well with visitation. His preaching emphasized holiness, repentance, and revival. He successfully remodeled the sanctuary to make it more attractive while still usable as the school’s gymnasium. He added attractive wood paneling, new stage curtains, and other furnishings to beautify the church. He even added a new kind of carpet that could be used for basketball games and still serve as the floor covering for church services. The church had successful community outreaches such as the Family Fun Fest and The Los Altos Art & Wine Festival. Pastor Bailey also started a program of having adults include the church in their endowments in their wills. This legacy continues to bless the church financially to this day. During these years, the school was a full service facility with competitive sports, science and performing arts programs, in addition to other basic subjects. 

Due to increasing costs and declining enrollment it became necessary to close the Christian school in 2002. In 2003, a new pastor, John Christenson, decided that the aging facility on Miramonte Avenue no longer suited the church’s needs and was too expensive to repair. He convinced the congregation that it was time to transition to a more modern building. He located the current property on Weddell Avenue and convinced the church to remodel it and move in. What was once a failed dot.com enterprise was converted into  the beautiful modern facility that we have today. The church changed its name to New Hope International Church. Pastor Christensen also began the church’s current emphasis on being an international church. He also allowed churches of other nationalities to rent the facility for their services.

When Jorge Marsal became pastor in about 2010. He was successful in getting new young families to join the congregation. The church became a truly international church that had members from all over the world. He renamed the church Sunnyvale International Church to better reflect its roots as one of the oldest churches in the community. Young families began to join the church and the drama and music ministries, that had long been cornerstones of the church, were revitalized. The church began to do many positive outreaches to serve the community and modernized its worship. Pastor Marsal also hired many young associates that he trained up to be ministers. These new staff members better reflected the ethnic diversity of the community and included some of our first female pastors.

Today, under its first female senior pastor, Guadalupe Sanchez, the church is growing once again. Pastor Lupe brings strong teaching from the word presented in an enthusiastic and modern format. She understands the immigrant community well because of her own background, but also relates well to the English speaking community. She has led the congregation well during the challenging times of the COVID-19 virus by offering words and deeds of encouragement to her congregation. She excels in ministry to those with illnesses and the elderly. She has expanded the church’s outreach by increasing its online presence, thus making its ministry available to a much wider audience.