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Minister to Legislatures
Elder S. M. Cobb, one of the ministers in the New York Conference, let it be known
that he appreciated the work accomplished by women in ministry. In a letter to the
conference president, he praised the contribution of Bible workers, who were almost
exclusively women, to the overall ministry of the church. He continued with a strong
defense of the one woman evangelist in the conference, Lulu Wightman, as being a suitable instrument of God to use to present the truth. He asserted that a good woman
worker could accomplish as much as the best male minister in the conference.
“Look at Sr. Lulu W.’s work,” he challenged.
She has accomplished more in the last two years than any minister in
the state, and yet the conference has held her off at arms length, and
refused to recognize her as a suitable person to present the truth:
when in fact she was out of sight of the very ones that opposed her,
in point of ability. (You know who I mean).
As a member of the conference executive committee, Elder Cobb evaluated three men
being considered for credentials, approving two of the three. He added, “I am also in
favor of giving license to Sr. Lulu Wightman to preach, and believe that there is no
reason why she should not receive it.” He more tentatively suggested the possibility of
licensing her husband as well, depending on whether or not the ministry was the lifework to which he considered himself to be called. (Taken from letter by Elder S. M. Cobb,
Lockport, N.Y., to Elder A. E. Place, Rome, N.Y., August 6, 1897.)
In 1897 a healthy and attractive baby girl was born to the Wightmans, and the
grateful parents named her Ruth. Lulu suffered a physical setback afterward, but prayers
were offered, and soon she was fully active again.
The primary function that Lulu performed in the Wightman evangelistic team can be
deduced from an account given at the thirty-sixth annual business session of the New
York Conference, held in Syracuse during September 1897. When the new Gas Springs
Church was presented to the constituents by the conference president, Elder Place, it
was stated that this “strong body” of new believers “was raised up largely through the
efforts of Sister Lulu Wightman and her husband.” (Indicator. October 6, 1897.)
The statement that the new group was raised up largely through Lulu’s efforts, with
her husband mentioned in a secondary way, is no reflection on the character or abilities
of John Wightman. He possessed among other gifts a special talent for preparing promotional material about the meetings and on doctrinal subjects and getting it into the
newspapers. He had been a city editor of daily papers and a contributor to Sunday journals. His success as a writer continued throughout his wife’s and his own ministry.
In September 1897 Lulu Wightman was voted a ministerial license for the first time,
at the same official meeting in which the Gas Springs company was accepted into the
conference. John Wightman did not receive a license.
In November Mrs. Wightman began preaching in the village of Avoca. Throughout
the series attendance w as so high that every night, except one when the weather was
particularly bad, from 50 to 100 people were unable to enter even for standing room.

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