The institution was established in 1935 in Phoenix, Arizona as the Phoenix Bible Institute by Evangelist Leland Entrekin and Roy Bancroft. The college moved in 1946 to Oakland, California and took the name Western Baptist Bible College, affiliated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). In 1969, the college moved to Salem, Oregon. In July 1969, the administrators paid $5,000 as a down payment for the 100 acre campus. The down payment was then adopted as the college's new address: 5000 Deer Park Drive. The transaction was personally overseen and signed by then Oregon Governor Tom McCall.