Between 1925 and 1930, President Richard T. Gillespie provided leadership that led to the development of the present facilities on a fifty-seven-acre tract in Decatur, Georgia.

Columbia, however, experienced substantial growth under the leadership of J. McDowell Richards, who was elected president in 1932 and led the seminary for almost four decades.

Columbia's affiliation with the acclaimed American theologian and writer, Frederick Buechner, is centered on the Presbyterian values shared between school and author.

He was ordained January 1, 1816 and served as its minister for 6 years before resigning his charge, where he helped to build the community that later would become the Seminary and was elected by the synod of Georgia and South Carolina to be its first, and at the time, only professor.

Goulding, by appointment of the General Assembly, opened the first session of the Synod of Georgia, which met in Macon on the 20th of November, 1845, with a sermon from Acts xx:28, and was elected its first Moderator.