The church was organized in 1907 to serve the influx of people moving from San Francisco to Berkeley after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , and the church building was completed in 1910 . The church was named to honor St. John 's Presbyterian Church in San Francisco , which many of the new congregants had attended and whose pastor , Dr. George Granville Eldridge , became the founding pastor of St. John 's in Berkeley . Subsequent pastors included Dr. Stanley Armstrong Hunter ( 1924-1954 ) , Dr. James Comfort Smith ( 1954-1970 ) , Dr. Robert A. McKenzie ( 1970-1983 ) , Dr. Thomas McKnight ( 1984-2001 ) , and Dr. Max Lynn ( 2002-present )
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
St. John's Presbyterian Church (Berkeley, California)