Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years: 1900-1905 (vol. 5)

Ministry in the Washington Churches

Ellen White was immediately drawn into services in the Washington Adventist churches. On the first Sabbath there, the last day of April, she spoke in Elder J. S. Washburn's Memorial church (Manuscript 106, 1904). She spoke again a week later at the rededication of this church. She had planned to speak on the Sermon on the Mount, but writing of the experience, observed, “This was taken from me,” and John 15:1-17,“I am the true vine,” was impressed upon her mind (Manuscript 142, 1904). 5BIO 326.4

The next Sabbath she spoke at the racially mixed First church on Eighth Street, pastored by Elder L. C. Sheafe, a black. Elder Sheafe also pastored an all-black church, the members of which he invited for the meeting conducted by Ellen White. With one all-black church, one all-white church, and one integrated church, there were potentials for some problems. In her ministry she endeavored to keep before the people the importance of unity. 5BIO 326.5

Following the service she prepared for the return drive to Takoma Park. As “I stepped into the carriage to start home,” she reports: 5BIO 326.6

We were surrounded with white people and colored people so that we could not move on.... One after another introduced themselves as being formerly acquainted with me. A mother came with her two sons, very fine-looking men, and introduced them to me. Both expressed great satisfaction in listening to the discourse. The elder son grasped my hand and said, “My heart is melted within me. I never listened to such a discourse as you have given today. I never heard anything like it. It thrilled me through and through.” ... 5BIO 327.1

Other noble-looking men and women crowded to the carriage, but I did not get their names. The colored came as well as the white; I shook hands with them heartily, and then we had to leave.—Manuscript 45, 1904. 5BIO 327.2

The trip back to Takoma Park through the grounds of the National Soldiers’ Home was pleasant, and Ellen White declared that “this shall be the road I shall henceforth travel in reaching this meeting house in Washington.” 5BIO 327.3

As they neared Takoma Park the clouds were gathering, and the sky grew darker and darker. They reached Carroll House just in time, for “no sooner had we entered the house than the shower came on.”— Ibid. 5BIO 327.4

From the day they had begun to make definite preparation for the trip to Washington, Ellen White had her eyes on the plans for the biennial session of the Lake Union Conference. This was called to meet at Berrien Springs, Michigan, from May 17 to 26. Not only would she attend the conference but she would also for the first time see the newly established Emmanuel Missionary College. This left just three weeks for the first part of her stay in Washington, and there was much to do. She wrote of the “many things to be considered in locating our printing establishment and especially our sanitarium, that everything shall be according to the light given” (Manuscript 142, 1904). 5BIO 327.5

As the construction work was about to begin, committee meetings were held from day to day in the large first-floor room in the Carroll Manor House. Ellen White participated in the discussion and gave counsel. 5BIO 327.6

It was hoped that the enterprises in Washington could be started without incurring large indebtedness, and it seemed that circumstances favored this. In February there had been a very destructive fire in Baltimore in which eighty square blocks of business and residential buildings were destroyed. Lumber had been shipped in by boat by various companies to meet the needs of rebuilding, and it seems that the market was oversupplied. Some of this lumber was redirected to Washington and was available at about one half its normal cost (Letter 237, 1904). The builder, Mr. Baird, was a very careful, economical man, and he was pleased to find they could secure low-cost building materials for the structures they were to erect in Takoma Park. 5BIO 327.7

Except for reports of the services that she held in the churches and an occasional reference to her driving out through the town, enjoying the scenery and approving the general location, the records are rather meager for the initial three weeks Ellen White spent in Washington. 5BIO 328.1

But now they had to be off to Berrien Springs, Michigan, to attend the Lake Union Conference session. This meeting held large importance. Dr. Kellogg and some of his supporters would be present. They were still in the throes of the pantheistic teachings. The Living Temple was being sold. The direction of the medical work and the control of the church's medical institutions was a subject of controversy. The session would be a crucial meeting, and Ellen White was eager to attend. It proved to be the best-attended union conference session held in 1904. 5BIO 328.2