Until 1919, the church board of The Chapel selected its pastor from the Bible teachers of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists (CME). In 1920, the church requested to have a full-time pastor appointed by the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
On January 25, 1920, the Church Council addressed the subject of “peripatetic pulpiteers.” That is, the inconvenience caused by special speakers who arrived on short notice without the knowledge of the pastor. Council members voted that the pastor should be notified 24 hours in advance so that he may make proper arrangements. An early “log” of speakers reveals that visiting ministers from the Local, Union, and General Conferences, missionaries on furlough, and ministers just passing through who “happened” to have a sermon. Thus, the local pastor was displaced most of the time.
In September 1913, the church opened its new elementary school in a new building on Pepper Drive (now Anderson Street), north of the San Timoteo Creek. The property is now a parking lot. In the fall of 1929, the church opened a new school on the opposite (south) side of the San Timoteo Creek. Loma Linda Academy still uses this building, the one closest to the San Timoteo Creek bridge.
During the first two decades, the church experienced challenges typical of life in the early 20th century. A “Fly Committee” recommended screening the church’s windows and doors. They also recommended the installation of hitching posts at the foot of the hill so that horses would not be hitched close by. Another problem—the baptistery, filled with often-muddy water from Big Bear Lake, sometimes contained small fish. In April, 1923, the Church Board negotiated to receive water from CME. In 1926, with a membership of 700, CME installed loud speakers on the lawn of The Chapel to accommodate overflow audiences.
In 1931, a $1,700, two-manual, theater pipe organ replaced a $450, 1917, Estey reed organ. The church considered the snare drums and bass to be inappropriate for church and removed them. On June 15, 1932, the church council granted permission for "Sister Digneo's boy," age 12, to practice on the new organ. Elmer Digneo eventually became the church organist, the principal of Loma Linda Academy, the mayor of Loma Linda, and the namesake of Elmer Digneo Park.
By the end of 1928, the Loma Linda congregation had grown to 1,026 members. Nearly every Sabbath some people arriving for church would observe the congested conditions and leave. As has been the case on many college campuses, on December 8, 1928, because of overcrowding, the church decided to split and name the new congregation the “College Church.” The Church Council recommended that the new congregation be composed of CME faculty, students, staff, and families. On December 29, Glenn Calkins, president of the Southeastern California Conference, organized the College Church with 284 members (240 of whom had been members of the mother church).
The new congregation started meeting in the chapel of West Hall, the renamed original Loma Linda Hospital on the lower campus, which had become a men’s dormitory. Taylor G. Bunch, a Bible teacher at CME, became the first pastor and Dr. Edward H. Risley the first elder. Six hundred and eighty remained in the congregation.
The chapel in West Hall was used by the College Church for six years, from 1928 until Burden Hall was completed in 1934. Contractor Larry Havstad succeeded in building Burden Hall for $22,000, including seating, installation of a pipe organ, and furniture, about, $3,000 under budget. Because of increasing membership the College Church conducted sometimes three services (one in the nearby Cutler Hall). This arrangement lasted until May 1961, when the College Church moved into its new, 2,250-seat sanctuary, now known as the University Church of Seventh-day Adventists.