Fresno Pacific College came into being on September 18, 1944 due to a long-felt need on the part of the Mennonite Brethren Church on the Pacific Coast to have a Bible School related to their conference. The school formally opened with an enrollment of 27 students in Fresno, California in a large residence at 1095N. Van Ness. The board of directors hired six faculty members, four full-time and two part-time. In the second semester of the school year enrollment increased to 35 students. Near the end of the first year, a former YMCA building was purchased at 2149 Tuolumne, a three-story structure to be a new home for Fresno Pacific. In 1954 the Mennonite Brethren Conference of North America initiated a program to unite several educational prospects. Through this, Fresno Pacific College became a General Conference Mennonite Brethren school. In 1958 a 20-acre property was purchased for a new campus. The five main goals of the school in 1959 were: 1) To give young people a thorough knowledge of the Bible; 2) To train them in the highest type of Christian living in whatever season of life they find themselves in 3) To prepare them for Christian service, at home and abroad; 4) To strengthen them against the various unscriptural philosophies of life; 5) To send forth sanctified Christlike personalities, yielded and obedient to the Master. The center of the curriculum was focused on study of the Bible, and for some time the Institute offered four and five-year programs for Bible College Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees. Now however the programs have changed and there is a three-year course offered, leading to a diploma in Bible and a two-year course granting the Associate in Arts degree in liberal arts or sacred music. The Bachelor of Theology degree was transferred to the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, which was established on the same campus in 1956. The Bible Institute became an accredited junior college in 1961, and decided to develop a four year program two years later, in 1963. In 1964, Pacific Bible Institute changed its name to Fresno Pacific College, and became accredited with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges the next year. By 1967, the decision was made to add graduate courses, and the accreditation for the first Master of Arts program was received from WASC in 1975. The following have served as presidents of the institute: S.W. Goossen 1944-1946, G.W. Peters 1947-1953, R.M Baerg 1953-1955, Bernhard J. Braun 1955-1960, Arthur J. Wiebe 1961-1962, Rev. Edmund Janzen 1975-1982, Mr. Silas Bartsch (interim president, Edmund Janzen on leave), Rev. Edmund Janzen 1983-1985, Dr. Richard Kriegbaum 1985-1997, Allen Carden 1997-2000, Dr. Harold Haak 2000-2002, and Dr. Merrill Ewert 2002- .