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Ours is a civil and not a religios government. It is the
world’s greatest government sine time began. Let there
be no innovation upon our splendid system where in all
men are free.
–Lulu Wightman, 1909

Minister to Legislatures
Lulu Wightman
Licensed minister 1897 to 1907, 1909 to 1910
Ordained minister in 1908

The ministry seemed a proper calling for a young woman, Lulu Russell, whose two
older brothers were outstanding Adventist ministers and administrators: Elder E. T.
Russell, president of the Central Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and
Elder K. C. Russell, first president of the Chesapeake Conference.
As a young married woman, Lulu Wightman experienced a call to evangelism. Her
husband, John, consistently encouraged her. Church leaders discussed how Lulu
Wightman might carry out her call.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about including this young woman in the ministry. In
1896 Elder J. W. Raymond, an established minister in the New York Conference, agreed
when asked by the conference leadership to add Lulu Wightman to his evangelistic team
in Cuba, New York. However, his written offer stated that while Lulu would receive a
small income for her services, her husband would get none. (Taken from a letter by J. W.
Raymond, Cuba, Allegany Co., N.Y., to P. Hinne, June 16, 1896. See appendix A, 3.1.)
Lulu promptly replied that she and her husband would be glad to join his tent
company but could not afford to do so unless John Wightman could be paid for his
work. He could not afford to be idle all summer, his wife pointed out; moreover, what
she was offered would not board both of them. (Elder J. W. Raymond quoted Lulu
Wightman’s letter to him in a letter that he wrote to Bro. Hinne [1896]. See appendix A, 3.2.)
The previous Sunday night Lulu had launched an effort in Hornellsville, New York.
John, formerly a newspaper editor, had advertised the series effectively in the local
papers. Lulu and John welcomed several leading citizens to their first Sunday evening
meeting. They decided to continue their effort in Hornellsville.
Elder Raymond wrote to the conference treasurer that he was averse to Lulu’s
entering the ministerial work. However, in the same letter he said that he thought the
conference should bear the traveling expenses of Mrs. Stowe, a minister’s wife, to and
from evangelistic work; he thought that was only fair, as required by the golden rule.