University Church of Christ Records

The University Church of Christ began in late February, 1970. Initially, five to six families gathered for worship service in the basement of the Los Angeles County Court House on Civic Center Way in Malibu. The group wished to establish a presence in Malibu prior to the construction of Pepperdine's new campus. In 1971, the church moved to the first floor court chambers and converted the basement into classrooms. Founding members include the families of Bill Banowsky, Bill Brown, Ansel Buchanan, Bob Gilliam, Walter Glass, Grover Goyne, Dude Higgins, Jerry Hudson, Norman Hughes, John Nicks, Ken Perrin, Edward Rockey, Jere Yates, and M. Norvel Young.

In the fall of 1972, the church moved to the new Pepperdine University Malibu campus where they held Sunday services in the recently completed Elkins Auditorium at Seaver College. The following fall, Stauffer Chapel was completed and to this day, the church meets between the two locations.During the Covid pandemic, the church met first on Zoom, then outdoors in the amphitheater on the Malibu campus.

For the first 15 years of the church's history, several members shared preaching duties including Ed Rockey (1970-1974), Tony Ash (1972-1975), Robert Douglas (1975-1978), Jerry Rushford, Michael Gose (1978-1981), Don Crawford (1981-1982), David Davenport (1982-1985), Carroll Osburn (1983-1984), and Jon Free (1984-1985). In 1985, the congregation appointed its first full-time preaching minister, Dan Anders, who filled that role until 1998. Ken Durham succeeded Anders and served until 2011. In subsequent years, preaching ministers were Rich Little, Al Sturgeon, and Eric Wilson.

Since its organization, the church has ranged in size from a handful of members to more than 500. The church has been referred to as Malibu Church of Christ and University Church of Christ but today is officially referred to as University Church of Christ.