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THE
HERITAGE OF THE PAST
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In the
spring of 1928 Fred and Laura Mae Leonard founded Visalia First Assembly
with a membership of fourteen. The first few years the church was
located in various buildings downtown including the second floor of the
old Visalia Theater and a vacant pool room. |
 As
the congregation continued to grow in the mid 30's they built a larger
auditorium on property that was purchased at Conyer and Oak streets.
The church settled here with additions and expansions for the next 39
years.
In
addition to expansion of the facility, the congregation also helped
establish two other Assembly of God churches in Visalia.
In the
summer of 1975 Visalia First Assembly broke ground on property that was
purchased at Walnut and Demaree.
During
the next 14 years under the leadership of pastor Ernest Kumpe, a new
sanctuary, educational buildings, preschool, fellowship hall and gymnasium
were built.
A
preschool was established as well as Visalia Christian Academy.
In 1988
the church purchased 40 acres of property at Caldwell and Akers for future
building.
In 1995 the Official Board of Visalia First Assembly
extended an invitation to Rich Guerra to consider coming to Visalia to be
the senior pastor of this thriving congregation. It was clear when the vote came in, that they were the
ones that God had prepared to take this church to the next level.
Easter Sunday 1995
was their first Sunday and quickly began to develop the
pastoral staff and facilities to foster the growth of the church. At
this time we were meeting at our Walnut Campus facility. Through the
miracles of previous years we finally able to break ground for our new multi
use facility at Akers and Caldwell streets.
 As our
congregation caught God’s vision for the community and began to get
involved and reach out our new facilities took shape. A ceremonial torch
passing took place, our congregation lined the streets to pass the torch
from the old location to the new location.
As a result of the faithfulness of our people, hundreds of new families of
all nationalities and walks of life have come to worship at Visalia First
Assembly. Hundreds are involved in ministry activities each week and
the church is reaching out to meet the needs of the community in creative
ways.
 In October 2000, we officially
dedicated our new facility located at Akers & Caldwell, a 40 acre
lot with Worship
Center.
In 2003 our church office complex and children's classrooms were
completed.
Today we operate multiple
ministries from both our
Walnut Campus facility and Akers Campus facility
In May 2007, Pastor Rich, after 12 years of ministry, resigned his Senior
Pastor position to accept his newly elected position of Assistant
Superintendent of the Southern California Assemblies of God.
As 2007 came to a conclusion the Deacon Team approached Mike Robertson about
becoming the next pastor. In January they accepted the request to come for a
weekend of events with the congregation.
On January 27, 2008, Mike and Karen were elected overwhelmingly
as the 14th Senior Pastor in our history. In March of 2008,
Pastor Mike and Pastor Karen joined the congregation and began their
ministry in this great church.
We know that vision is born in our hearts,
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see."
What Pastor Fred Leonard and our first congregation of 1928 started
continues today with a rich history. God has truly blessed Visalia First
Assembly!
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