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Evangelist and Teacher of Ministers
Pennsylvania, as a mission. Family members and others displaced by depression or
misfortune found needed housing with this minister whose home and heart seemed
large enough for all. In her home the motto, “The m ore, the merrier,” prevailed.
Sometimes for those she took under her wing she not only provided housing but bought
food and paid doctors’ and dentists’ bills as well. Many young people were assisted in
obtaining a Christian education by this same generous pastor.
One of the young people blessed by Jessie’s love and generosity was Jack Davis, her
great-nephew. She employed him to drive her to appointments and to take care of her
equipment—to set up the stereopticon projector and hang the charts. Even though he
aired out the car after taking a smoke while waiting for Mrs. Curtis to give a Bible study,
she knew what was going on. During this period the prayers, love, and support she gave
to Jack resulted in his conversion and ultimate dedication to the service of God in the
Adventist church. He was won by her preaching in the pulpit and by the love in her life.
Still winning people to Christ in northeastern Pennsylvania, Mrs. Curtis held a tent
effort in Kingston during September and October of 1964. The budget for the series
was $5,000, of which $2,000 went for lot rental. Again Jessie Curtis was used by God
to raise up a church.
There is no indication that the people served by Jessie Weiss Curtis thought it was
inappropriate to have a woman minister. In fact, as the years went on, they practically
reverenced her.
One of Jessie Weiss Curtis’ strengths was her gift for preaching. People who heard
her recall specific features of her pulpit style. Margaret Potts says that Mrs. Curtis’
preaching was “dynamic—she knew her subject like nothing I ever heard.” At the East
Pennsylvania camp meetings, Margaret and others experienced the inspiration of the
evangelist’s life and preaching. Mrs. Curtis moved around the campground fraternizing
with the people, many of whom were probably her converts. The fact that she was a
strict Seventh-day Adventist did not seem to turn people away. Knowing her listeners
doubtless helped to shape her messages. She was “somebody you wanted to hear. She
just held you spellbound. When Jessie Weiss Curtis spoke,” Mrs. Potts said emphatically, “the children listened. They really listened.”(From Margaret Potts, Hyattsville,
Maryland, telephone conversation with the writer, June 22, 1985.)
Many factors contributed to her effectiveness as a preacher and enabled her to hold
children spellbound. Jack Davis recalls that his aunt never read a sermon. This extemporaneous delivery no doubt helped to hold attention. She also was eminently understandable; she never preached “over people’s heads” but directly to their hearts and minds.
Mr. Davis says that Mrs. Curtis held attention as she preached on last-day events. She
would use newspaper clippings of earthquakes and hurricanes, train wrecks or airplane
crashes, relating these events to the last days of earth’s history and the soon coming of
the Lord.

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