Heritage Snapshot Part 298

In 1972, the University Church replaced its original Conn electronic organ with a 127-rank Casavant Freres pipe organ. The largest pipe organ in San Bernardino County was first played in a worship service May 27, 1972. The installation of the organ at a cost of $250,000 was completed and the pipe organ dedicated on November 5, 1977.  In the late 1980’s, members of the University Church considered renovating their sanctuary. But because the Loma Linda Academy elementary school desperately needed to be rebuilt, they instead invested heavily in that project. Then, because new religious freedoms emerged in Russia, and evangelistic meetings resulted in hundreds of baptisms, they decided to build a sister church in St. Petersburg. When that new church seating 750 was finally dedicated in 1997, Loma Linda Adventists had donated $630,000 to the project. In September 2003, the University Church congregation began worshiping temporarily in the University’s Gentry Gymnasium while their sanctuary underwent an $8-million renovation. The project included the removal of asbestos and the installation of new carpets, pews, and electrical wiring, a sprinkler system, and an infrastructure for media and television production. The University Church donated old pews to small congregations in the United States and Mexico. The final touch for the University-Church-Made-New? The 7,200 pipes for the Casavant pipe organ were removed, repaired and/or cleaned.  In December 2003, the church board added “Loma Linda” to the church name—Loma Linda University Church of Seventh-day Adventists.  Today, with approximately 7,000 members, the University Church accommodates the largest Seventh-day Adventist congregation in North America. In addition, at least twenty other Seventh-day Adventist churches in surrounding communities are available to the 18,500 employees and students of Loma Linda University Health. Did Loma Linda co-founder Ellen G. White envision a larger institution in Loma Linda? When she first visited the 750-seat Chapel on the Hill for the first time in 1910—just five years after the founding of the Loma Linda Sanitarium by 35 mostly young people—she said, "This is all very nice, but it’s too small.” Then she added, “You people have no idea what this place will become if you are faithful."  On October 13, 1962, the church again inaugurated a second service. The congregation had worshiped together under one roof at the same time for exactly twenty-five months. The Church also started additional Sabbath School classes in other buildings on campus, including the Kate Lindsay Hall Chapel and the School of Dentistry. In 1966 a two-story, 33,000 square-foot structure added eighteen new classrooms, four offices, and the 300-seat Campus Chapel to the northwest of the main sanctuary. It included a kitchen for conducting cooking schools and a Fellowship Hall with a fireplace, which would seat 200.  The addition, providing classroom space for 1,300 children, centralized the Sabbath School departments that met at widely separated locations on campus.   The Organ. In 1972 the University Church replaced its original Conn electronic organ with a 127-rank Casavant Freres pipe organ. The largest pipe organ in San Bernardino County was first played in a worship service May 27, 1972. The installation of the organ with all of its 7,036 pipes at a cost of $250,000 was completed and the pipe organ dedicated on November 5, 1977.