Rev. Masahiko Wada came to Moneta Baptist of Gardena around 1929. Previously, he was the pastor at Garden Grove Baptist when he arrived from Japan. In 1928, Rev. Wada was sponsored as a missionary under the Los Angeles City Mission Society in California to minister to the farm workers in the Garden Grove and Pomona area.

The City of Gardena was incorporated on September 1930. It combined the rural communities of Gardena, Moneta, and Strawberry Park. At that time, Gardena was a small farming community of about 20,000 people.

Also in 1930, the Los Angeles Mission Society sent Rev. Howard Ross, who recently returned from Japan as a missionary, to help with the Nisei congregation.