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Called By God
“I met Mrs. Sype in Hawarden, Iowa, in 1908.That’s when I first heard
of the Adventist faith. She was a minister. Her husband did the housework at home and he also led the song services for the tent meetings.
She was a powerful speaker as I remember.”…
—Thomas E. Durst, Colville, Washington.
“A Real Lady Preacher,” Insight (May 7, 1974): 2-3.
In the Yearbook for 1908, the year specifically mentioned, I found Minnie Sype among
the ministers of the Iowa Conference. Although she was not ordained, it was significant
that she was functioning in 1908 as a licensed minister; moreover, she was not alone, for
the Iowa Conference had another female licensed minister that year also, Mrs. G. R. Hawkins.
Becoming curious concerning whether women ministers may have been serving in
other conferences as well, I leafed through the little 1908 Yearbook. I found Mrs. Bertha
Jorgensen among the licensed ministers of the North Dakota Conference; in the General
Conference, Mrs. E. G. White appears as an ordained minister and Mrs. H. H. Haskell
as a licensed minister; Mrs. J. S. Wightman is listed as an ordained minister of the
California Conference.
Naturally the question arises, How is it that Mrs. White and Mrs. Wightman are
included among the ordained ministers? As much information as I have been able to
assemble in answer to this question will be found in the coverage of Ellen White in
chapter 7 and Lulu Wightman in chapter 3.
Pleasantly surprised to find six women listed as ministers in 1908, I looked in other
Yearbooks. I made a list, simply going by names that seemed obviously to be those of
women. Later, the General Conference Archives staff enhanced this list, which you will
find in Appendix B. It is by no means exhaustive, and a great deal more work could be
done in this area.
Like fragments of glass, bits of information have come to me concerning some of these
ministers, here a bright scrap and there a colorful piece, gradually forming together into
stained glass cameos of women who have been active in ministry over the years but
whose history has been largely forgotten.
Several women’s ministries are described in some detail in chapters 1-7; brief coverage
of additional pioneer women evangelists and pastors is provided in chapter 8. The
account is brought to the present in chapter 9 with the briefest mention of a group of
living women who are active or retired ministers. Chapter 10 considers a Biblical analogy,
and in the conclusion we take a look into the future in light of the past and present.
My purposes in writing are three:
1.I believe that readers will take inspiration for their own lives from the dedication
shown by these women ministers in times of challenge, crisis, and rich reward as
they have answered their individual calls to ministry.

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