The church was founded by D. James Kennedy on May 22, 1960, who began with a congregation of 45 persons attending a typical Sunday service at a rented elementary school auditorium. Kennedy developed the ""Evangelism Explosion"" ("EE") method of evangelism in the 1960s, which emphasizes the training of church laypeople to share their faith by home visitation in the community. Coral Ridge became the fastest-growing Presbyterian church in the U.S. in the 1960s and had 1,366 members by 1968. Outgrowing its first church built in the early 1960s, construction of the church's present 2,300-seat sanctuary, surmounted by a tower and designed in a modern style, was undertaken in the early 1970s, making it one of the tallest churches in the United States. On December 21, 1973, the first services were held in the church's new building. In February 1974, the sanctuary was formally dedicated by Billy Graham. By the 1980s, the church's membership had grown to a few thousand persons. Evangelism Explosion was the subject of Kennedy's doctoral dissertation, who said he earned a Ph.D. "to dispel the idea there is an inconsistency between evangelism and education...evangelical ministers to be thoroughly educated and equipped to meet on equal terms anyone with whom they come in contact". A 1970 film, "Like a Mighty Army", starring actor Chris Robinson as Kennedy, portrayed the Evangelism Explosion story at the church.