Hyveth Williams

Hyveth Williams has the distinction of being the first black American woman to pastor a Seventh-day Adventist Church. Williams is the senior pastor of the Campus Hill Adventist Church in Loma Linda.Pastor Williams earned a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Boston University School of Theology. She is an adjunct professor in the Loma Linda University School of Religion.

Williams, like many other high-profile Adventists, had a rather dramatic conversion experience. A one-time atheist, drinker, smoker, radio personality, political exec. and ...oh ya, I already said atheist, she became a Seventh-day Adventist, and from there it was a matter of time before she would end up in ministry.

Hyveth Williams hails from Jamaica, and her roots are often evident in her energetic preaching and flamboyant fashion sense.

Richest Caveman

Doug Batchelor is an excellent example of the pendulum effect. Batchelor was born to wealthy, influential parents. He grew up a rather undisciplined boy, living life to the fullest, if you know what I mean. From that end of the pendulum, he swung to the other end as a result of time spent in a cave in the desert of Southern California. He wrote about the cave experience in his book, "The Richest Caveman."
In the cave, Batchelor found a Bible, which would thereafter become his primary means of earning a living. Batchelor became a Seventh-day Adventist pastor and eventually the head honcho of Amazing Facts, which recently made news by merging with Weimar Institute.*

In the cave, he was often naked. He now wears suits. In the cave, he had long hair. He now enjoys a more polished look. How the pendulum swings!


*Faulty information corrected thanks to "lmerklin". Batchelor was incorrectly listed as founder of Amazing Facts, when in fact it has been around since 1966 - Amazing!

Barry Black

Doug Batchelor Sketch

Which is not to say that Doug Batchelor is sketchy...Necessarily.

Adventist Review

Jan Paulsen

Jan Paulsen is a cool General Conference President. That's because he talks with the youth of the church. Face to face. Live on TV. The discussions are Q & A sessions that allow youth from around the wide world of Adventism to ask questions of their president, which he answers in front of the live audience.

Paulsen is also an ordained minister. And he's from Norway, which is also cool. He has served as a teacher and principal in Africa, a teacher and principal in England, and the author of a book called "When the Spirit Descends". It might sound like something from Harry Potter, but it's not.

Jan Paulsen recently spoke out strongly against Adventists taking up arms in military conflict. He said:

Mark Finley

Doug Batchelor

The thing about Doug Batchelor that makes him so fun to do as a caricature is that he is a caricature already. I mean that in a good way, of course. His features are well-defined, slightly exaggerated on their own, and lend themselves to caricaturing quite nicely. And then there's the fact that he lived in a cave before becoming an Adventist preacher. That is really the frosting on the cake!

Bill Knott

Bill Knott makes for a nice caricature. His strong features and bulbous tuft of hair make him well-suited for cartooning. In fact, he should really be featured in some TV show as a cartoon. Bill the Editor Dude!

Ellen White

James White

James Springer White is most famous for his marriage to Ellen Gould Harmon (thereafter Ellen G. White). But James White was an accomplished leader, author and administrator in his own right. In 1849 James White started the first Sabbatarian Adventist periodical entitled "The Present Truth" (now known as the Adventist Review).

James White left a legacy as a writer, president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (on more than one occasion), and vocal opponent of the Christian doctrine of the trinity (which he later conceded was biblical). Illness later in life would ultimately claim the life of one of Adventism's founding fathers, Elder White, despite the best efforts of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg of Corn Flakes fame.

Rachel Oakes Preston

The Seventh-day Adventist Church owes at least part of its name to Rachel Oakes Preston, a Methodist-turned-Seventh-day Baptist born in Vernon, Vermont in March of 1809.

It was Preston who convinced a small bunch of Millerites that Saturday, not Sunday, was the biblical Sabbath. It was only after the Great Disappointment of 1844 that the Millerite brethren had time to consider the proper day of worship and rest - prior to October 22nd of that year, a preoccupation with the second advent of Jesus, presumed to be foretold in Scripture as occurring on October 22, 1844.

After the Lord did not return as expected, the Millerites, suddenly with extra time on their hands, turned their attention to the nuts and bolts of organization and worship. Rachel Oakes Preston's emphasis on Saturday as Sabbath eventually became a key tenet of Millerite-turned-Seventh-day Adventist belief.