These four men, together with some laymen, established the Alpha Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Freedom in America in 1890, with Koonts as the president.

[1] John C. Schmidt, whom Bakke had ordained as a missionary in 1894, started a Black congregation eventually named Evangelical Lutheran Grace Church in the southwest part of Greensboro.

Between 1896 and 1902 he sent 11 Black men to Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois, but the colder climate, distance from home, expense, and exclusive use of German in the classes discouraged further recruitment and led him and Bakke to advocate for a southern college for Black pastors and teachers.

[4] On August 12, 1902, the Immanuel Conference petitioned the Mission Board for a preparatory school to be opened temporarily in Concord.

However, the school could not be opened in time for the fall semester of that year because the Mission Board could not find anyone to server as the professor.

[7] A 13-acre (5.3 ha) site in northeast Greensboro near North Carolina A&T college[8] was donated by Garland Daniel,[2] and a contract with A. L. Schlosser to erect the Administration Building on the new campus was signed on June 13, 1904.

The college relocated in July 1905 when construction was beginning, and two nearby houses were rented for students to sleep and eat in until the Administration Building, which would also serve as the men's dormitory, was completed in 1907[7][8] Schmidt, the pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Grace Church in Greensboro, supervised the construction.

At that time the girls dormitory was in such poor condition that the Greensboro Health Department had condemned it, although the school continued to use it.

[11] However, even as early as 1918, the Mission Board had considered limiting enrollment to those students who intended to be Lutheran pastors or teachers.

In March 1932, the Mission Board resolved to make a similar resolution to the next Synodical Conference convention.

[16] By 1955, total enrollment was averaging 100 students (about what it had been in 1920[14]), with about 30 graduates a year from the high school, junior college, and seminary combined.