You will see your Lord a-coming in a few more days...Hear the band of music which is sounding thro' the air. They look out at us from their portraitsearnest faces, still and sober for the photographer, above stiff collars and plain clothing. But who were they really, these strong-minded Adventist pioneers? James White's transportation on his first preaching tour was a borrowed horse. Neither he--nor the horse--would ever be the same again. Noted surgeon Amos Twitchell amputated 12-year-old Uriah Smith's leg in a 20-minute amputation performed on the Smiths' kitchen table--with no anesthetic. Joseph Bates was almost ridden out on a rail during one of his preaching tours. And who was the object of Annie Smith's unrequited love? My lot has been to learn / Of friendship false, that bright will burn / When fortune spreads her wing of light, / but fades away when cometh night. Often hungry and usually penniless, they argued passionately and worked tirelessly, hammering out their beliefs on the anvil of the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice, following it intelligently and willingly. None of them were perfect--but all of them did their best, by God's grace, to spread the message of Jesus' soon return and the good news of the seventh-day Sabbath. These are their stories.

They spent their lives, their health, their pennies - and their fortunes - in spreading the three angels' messages. The lives of the early Adventist pioneers were filled with hardships, sorrows, and joys as they gladly followed God's leading, doing their best to spread the news of Jesus' soon coming to take His children to their heavenly home. These are their stories. Anna Knight traveled 382 miles to be baptized. N.D. Faulkhead was intimately associated with the Masons and other secret societies - until he had a dream one night. S. N. and Hetty Haskell, in the right place at the right time, challenged a fanatical movement. Leonard and Elvira Hastings' crying baby and unharvested potatoes provided an unusual witness. Maude Sisley Boyd learned to set type in a language she didn't know. Marian Davis was Ellen White's chief worker in arranging the material for her books. Frederick Wheeler was the first ordained minister to preach the Sabbath. Stephen Smith hid a letter in a trunk for 28 years that could have saved him from a life of anger and hate. Alma Baker McKibbin, often called upon to do what she didn't know how to do, did it anyway. John Loughborough made a 16 month trip around the world when he was 77 years old, traveling 47,500 miles, preaching 352 times. And Ellen White kept her promise to her dying husband to carry forward the work.