Frances Sunae Cho
Lead Pastor
Sunae is Korean-American, born in Seoul, Korea, and immigrating to the United States with her family at the age of 15. Raised in San Jose, she always refers to it as her home. While she attended Mt. Pleasant High School, the family lived in South San Jose. Coming to serve at Evergreen Valley is very special; it is almost like ‘coming home’.
Sunae graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She worked as a Registered Nurse at Kaiser Santa Clara (1988 – 1997) and Valley Medical Center (1997 – 2004). After her spiritual growth caused her to realize her calling was to care for people in a different way, she earned a Master of Divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion (Graduate Theological Seminary) in Berkeley, California. Sunae was ordained as an Elder in the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2014. She has served four churches in California: Bethel Korean UMC (1999-2001), New Community Mission Church (2003-2004), Korean United Methodist Church in Santa Clara Valley (2006-2013) and Calvary UMC (2013-2016).
Sunae has been married to Michael for twenty-eight wonderful years and they have two grown children, Edward and Anthony. Eddie is going to Penn State College of Medicine and will be doing his residency in 2018. Eddie is married to Susie. Anthony is working and living at home. A recent addition to the family home is Butters, a nearly 2-year-old mix of Maltese, Miniature Schnauzer, and Poodle. This creature of God brings immense joy to the family.
Her personal mission statement is “God loves you. So love God and love others. Also have fun in life.” She is passionate about touching others and restoring a healthy relationship in families through God’s grace and love. Sunae believes that healthy homes and healthy churches can have a powerful impact on the world!
She and Michael love to travel. Sunae loves a good cup of coffee, music, and reading books. Moreover, Sunae is an excellent cook, particularly with Korean dishes, and she will look forward to introducing the Evergreen family to them and her own brand of hospitality.