Sunnyside ramps it up!

      Mountain View Community Church Sunnyside, a new MB church plant initiated out of Mountain View Community Church (MVCC), both of which are located in Fresno, Calif., has hired a new full-time pastor to lead this thriving, young congregation into the future.  John Richardson began serving in February and is joined by his wife, Sarah, and seven-month-old son, Dex.

            Sunnyside has experienced a solid beginning since launching in September 2012 under the leadership of interns from MVCC.  The expectation is that with full-time pastoral leadership the church will experience even stronger growth and health.  Fred Leonard, pastor of MVCC, says, “We are thankful for the leaders that God has called into Kingdom work and are praying for God to be glorified in and through His church at Sunnyside.”

            About his new pastoral role, Richardson says, “It means a ton to me to be on board with the team at Sunnyside—great people and great community.  I think the future is bright for Sunnyside (pun intended). We look forward to continue being God's Kingdom in this area. We strive to be an authentic, real and fun group of people who are in love with Jesus. “

            MVCC Sunnyside is located a few miles south of the main MVCC campus in an area that has a lot of social diversity.  While the church includes people of all ages and various ethnicities,  a significant number of young singles and young married couples make up the majority of the congregation.

            Sunnyside is supported financially by MVCC, Mission USA (USMB) and the Pacific District Conference.  Don Morris, director of Mission USA, says, “I recently attended a worship service at Sunnyside and was very encouraged as I found the worship and singing to be vibrant and meaningful, the attendees engaged throughout the morning and John’s message to be right on target.  Sunnyside is headed in a very positive direction.”