In 1958, Billy Graham held a crusade in San Francisco. Miss Johnson was invited by Melrose Baptist Church in Oakland to teach her class there as a discipleship-building follow-up. She accepted the invitation as God's call.

Thus, Oakland became the official birthplace of Bible Study Fellowship as a ministry. With Miss Johnson there, BSF classes began blossoming across the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the early 1960s, the wife of a grad student at the University of California asked if she could start a BSF class when she returned home to Indiana. Another class soon began in Arkansas. BSF began expanding, impacting lives across the U.S. and, later, into Canada.

The Berkeley BSF class was also the birthplace of the ministry's expansion internationally. Faculty members of the China Bible Seminary experienced BSF and requested the material needed to start classes in Hong Kong.

By 1980, Miss Johnson had been writing BSF lessons and leading an expanding ministry for more than a quarter-century. Her decision to retire led to a major move for BSF.

More History
The Beginning
A New Home in San Antonio