Michibiki: 100 Years of God’s Leading at Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church
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The Japanese word Michibiki means guidance, leading, or being led. In Scripture, the story of God’s people is often a story of divine leading. From Israel’s wilderness journey to the disciples’ mission to the ends of the earth, God has guided His people through uncertainty, hardship, and waiting. Through every trial, His sustaining care has kept the flame of mission alive.
On May 1–2, 2026, the Mountain View Japanese Seventh-day Adventist Church gathered to celebrate 100 years of that leading. As people entered the church, the atmosphere filled with smiles, embraces, and joyful anticipation. There was something both sacred and deeply familiar about the moment, as people of many ages, cultures, generations, and places came together as one family. Many returned not simply to attend a program, but to revisit a place that had shaped them — a place of cherished memories, lifelong friendships, spiritual grounding, and belonging.
The weekend opened with keynote speaker Elder Dwight Nelson, who spent the first 14 years of his life in Japan as the child of missionaries. His opening presentation, “God’s Personal Promise,” wove together photographs, childhood memories, and reflections on missionary life. Through these stories, he shared how the love, care, and guidance of God that he witnessed in Japan helped shape his own calling to ministry.
Throughout his messages, Nelson expressed not only a burden for reaching Japanese people, but also a deep desire to extend Christ’s love to all humanity. He recognized the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church as a shining light and bridge of grace, a place where God’s love has crossed cultures and generations. His stories of God’s leading in Japan resonated with the spirit of the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church and the mission it has carried for a century.
That spirit was affirmed during the Sabbath worship hour by Conference President Viloria, Secretary of Ministry Anil Kanda, and Asian Ministry Director Toan Quach. Each offered moving tributes and words of affirmation, honoring Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church as a place where the Spirit of God continues to lead. Their remarks celebrated the church’s history and its living witness today: a community that invites, welcomes, and embraces all people as Christ did. Pastor Bryan Bong, the incoming pastor of Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church, also shared warm words of welcome, adding to the sense that the anniversary was not only a time of remembrance, but a hopeful turning toward the future.
This mission continues through the Saniku Gakuin School, the church’s primary ministry to the surrounding community. After visiting the school before the anniversary weekend began, Elder Nelson and his wife, Karen, were impressed by the faithfulness, dedication, and sacrificial spirit of the staff, who share the gospel and Christian love with the Japanese immigrant community in the Bay Area. In many ways, the mission of both the church and Saniku Gakuin echoes the legacy of Elder Kinichi Nozaki, the pioneering founder of the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church.
In 1926, the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church began through the providential vision of Kinichi Nozaki, a young Japanese immigrant who endured the hardships of immigrant life and pioneered the first Japanese Seventh-day Adventist church in the United States. Nozaki had been baptized into the Adventist faith in 1910 after being introduced to its teachings by Elizabeth Swift, a retired Bible worker whose kindness and Friday evening Bible studies left a deep impression on him. After becoming the first ordained Adventist minister of Japanese descent in the United States, Nozaki devoted himself to sharing with others the grace and truth that had transformed his life.
His ministry was marked by hospitality, selflessness, and practical care. He visited the sick and injured, helped immigrants with language needs, opened his home for fellowship, and created a welcoming place for people to gather. Nozaki had a special burden for Japanese immigrants who often found themselves vulnerable, lonely, and uncertain in a foreign land. He and his wife along with their good friend Yoshimatsu Watanabe helped facilitate an English school for immigrants, using it as a doorway into Christian fellowship and community.
Even during World War II and the Japanese American incarceration, that mission did not die. At Heart Mountain, within the confines of barbed wire and displacement, Nozaki continued to nurture faith and fellowship. In a place marked by loss and injustice, he helped create a sanctuary of hope. Church members gathered there and found, even amid hardship, a glimpse of heaven.
That legacy of spiritual nurture was never simply the product of human effort. It was guided by the love of God. And because of that divine leading, the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church continues to carry that mission forward today.
On the morning of May 2, 2026, Nozaki’s legacy came alive in a moving Sabbath School panel featuring five young adults who had grown up in the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church. Each spoke sincerely about the church’s impact and how its influence continues to guide them. They remembered members who took genuine interest in their lives, the camaraderie that made church feel like home, and friendships that became like family.
What emerged was the quiet power of a nurturing church community. The weekly rhythm of attending church had not been mere routine. Week after week, often in ways they did not recognize at the time, they were being shaped into people who valued kindness, service, community, generosity, and compassion. Because they had experienced belonging, they now carry a desire to create belonging for others. Because they had been loved, they now seek to extend that love wherever they go.
Later that afternoon, the church hosted a Family Legacy Program, during which many senior members shared memories and testimonies. Story after story revealed the same unmistakable thread: Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church has been a place of hospitality, support, friendship, and spiritual care across every decade of its history.
Some spoke of friendships that changed their lives. Others remembered divine leading through unexpected connections, faithful mentors, and a church family that walked with them through joys and sorrows. Through each testimony, a common theme emerged: the Michibiki of God was alive in this church, revealed through the love, acceptance, and service of its members.
It became clear that God’s guidance is not experienced only through sermons, Bible studies, or formal programs. Often, it is felt in the quiet ministry of presence: in someone remembering your name, inviting you to a meal, praying with you, noticing your absence, celebrating your milestones, and standing beside you in times of need. From young adults to seniors, the same truth resounded: the love of God becomes visible when His people create a home for one another.
While the formal programs were deeply meaningful, some of the most heartwarming moments came during fellowship. Over 300 people gathered, representing many ages, backgrounds, cultures, and stories, all connected by the love and legacy of the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church. Throughout the room, people mingled, laughed, embraced, and reconnected with the joy of family reunited.
Looking across the gathering, one could not help but notice that the Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church is not only a church for Japanese people. It is a church where people of many nationalities and backgrounds have found welcome, acceptance, and belonging. Through the care of its pioneers and the continuing guidance of God, this church has long been known as a place where all are invited in, regardless of race, status, or circumstance.
For one weekend, the church’s legacy could be seen with remarkable clarity: in the memories of its elders, the gratitude of its young adults, the dedication of Saniku Gakuin, the affirmations of conference and ministry leaders, the presence of its incoming pastor, and the mission that began with Elder Nozaki a century ago.
One hundred years later, Michibiki remains more than a theme. It is the story of God’s leading woven through every chapter of Mountain View Japanese Adventist Church’s history, from Elder Nozaki’s first steps of faith, to seasons of hardship and displacement, to generations who found friendship, purpose, and belonging within this church family. To remember Michibiki is to remember that God has never led this church only for its own sake, but so that it might lead others toward the love of Christ. Looking back, the church sees God’s faithfulness. Looking ahead, it moves forward with the confidence that has sustained it for a century: the God who led before is still leading now, and the story of Michibiki is not finished yet.
Written by Andrew Iwahashi
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