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Called By God
Although she was not an overly emotional person, she would occasionally wipe a tear
from her eye. Hearing her preach, her nephew Jack Davis thought the Lord might be
coming the next day. He says, “I used to get goose pimples hearing her preach!”
Mrs. Curtis was well equipped for her work of evangelism. She used colorful, graphic,
bedsheet-sized posters and charts to illustrate Biblical topics: the image of Daniel 2, the
beasts of Daniel 7, the judgment, the sanctuary, the seven seals, the ten commandments,
the Sabbath—42 charts in all. The woman preacher had paid struggling Adventist
artists to create these striking visual aids to illustrate her sermons, and to put bread on
their tables at the same time.
In addition to the charts, Mrs. Curtis assembled an extensive stereopticon and
projector slide collection, along with the equipment to show them, that were the stockin-trade of some of the most successful evangelists of her era.
After she had established a church and the baptisms had been counted, Jessie Curtis
did not forget her converts. She visited them to monitor their progress and encouraged
them to hold fast; or, if they had slipped away, she nurtured them back. When there
was no pastor for churches she had previously established, she gladly agreed to pastor
for a short time. Thus new members were added while others were sustained. These
methods help explain why churches that she raised up still exist when other entire
groups of converts have disappeared.
The more we learn, the more it becomes understandable that the East Pennsylvania
Conference presidents sent their interns for training to this experienced, effective
minister. Elder N. R. Dower, formerly ministerial director of the General Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists, recalls that he started his work under evangelist Curtis. (From a
conversation of Eld. N. R. Dower with the writer at the Potomac campgrounds, June 1973.)
In addition, conference administrators made a practice of sending ministers to work
with Mrs. Curtis when they appeared to be drifting away on some point of doctrine or
church authority. Sometimes a rehabilitation was effected, and the worker found his
footing again as he associated and counseled with this wise and godly woman minister.
Although Mrs. Curtis usually conducted her own evangelistic campaigns and developed churches virtually alone, she wasn’t averse to assisting someone else when the
need arose. She solicited building materials from contractors to help another minister to
build the Scranton, Pennsylvania, Church. Being generous in giving herself, she was not
embarrassed to ask others to contribute. She also worked to build the Wilkes-Barre
Church. In fact, John Curtis gave the land for the building while Jessie Curtis and
Homer Weiss donated the stained-glass windows.
Thus by widely diverse methods—evangelizing, pastoring, soliciting, donating—Jessie
Weiss Curtis contributed constantly to the growth of the work in eastern Pennsylvania.
As a person Mrs. Curtis was well organize d and an exceptionally strong leader. By
character and personality she commanded attention and respect; when Mrs. Curtis
spoke, people listened. Although she was not effusive emotionally, people around her
sensed her warmth. Children loved her.

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