Imagine a cramped, drafty room with a small hand press, a stack
of paper and two young people determined to make a difference.
No budget, no office, no guarantee anyone would even read their work.
Just a conviction that truth needed to be shared.
That's how James and Ellen White started what would become one of the largest
publishing ministries in the world.
Proving that sometimes faith in a small beginning can change everything.
. In the spring of 1849, James White stood in a world still recovering
from the great disappointment.
The advent hope had not died, but it had fractured Small groups of Sabbath keeping.
Adventists were scattered across the northeastern United States, confused,
isolated, and unsure of what to do next.
There was no denomination, no organized leadership, and no way
to connect with others who still believed Jesus was coming soon.
James was only 28 years old, but he felt the urgency.
He wasn't a trained publisher.
He didn't have the money to start a press, but he had conviction.
He believed people needed to hear the biblical truths being rediscovered,
the Sabbath, the heavenly sanctuary, and the promise of the second coming.
More importantly, they needed to know that they weren't alone.
So James borrowed a small hand press and set up shop in a borrowed upstairs
room in Middletown, Connecticut.
The room was cramped and unheated, barely big enough to fit the press, much less a
team of workers, but that didn't stop him.
He wrote type, set, printed, folded, and dried every single page of
the first issue of the present.
Truth by hand.
Ellen White stood beside him, helping where she could folding pages,
preparing bundles, and praying over the words that they were sending out.
, The first issue was just eight pages long, contained articles on
the Sabbath, biblical prophecy and encouragement for scattered believers.
There was no color, no imagery, just words, ink, and a deep sense of mission.
. Once the pages were dry, James and Ellen packaged the papers and mailed them
to a few believers across the region.
They didn't know if anyone would even read them.
They certainly didn't expect what would come next.
Letters started arriving from across New England.
People who thought that they were the last Sabbath keepers in their town discovered
that they were part of something bigger.
Isolated families began writing to one another, encouraging
each other in their faith.
James's little paper became a lifeline, a link between scattered
people and a growing movement.
As demand grew, so did the operation.
By 1842, James and Ellen had moved the press to Rochester, New York.
It wasn't glamorous.
The new office was a damp, drafty house with barely enough room for
the press supplies and the handful of young volunteers who came to help
James slept on a mattress on the floor.
Ellen wash clothes in a basin in the corner.
They live simply sacrificing comfort and security for the sake of the work.
They weren't alone.
A growing number of young men and women came to assist folding,
inking, drying, trimming.
They weren't paid and most weren't trained, but they came with
willing hands and burning hearts.
This was their mission too.
The present truth soon became the Advent review and Sabbath Herald.
More tracks followed than booklets.
Eventually whole books were written and printed on that little hand press.
The vision was expanding, and from that tiny borrowed room, a global
publishing ministry began to take shape.
Today, the Seventh Aid Adventist Church operates one of the largest Protestant
publishing networks in the world.
From major publishing houses to literature evangelism, millions of
pieces are printed and distributed in hundreds of languages every year.
But it didn't start with a boardroom or a marketing team.
It started with a borrowed press, a small room, and a conviction
that truth needed to be shared.
What makes this story remarkable isn't just a scale of what followed.
It's how it began with no platform, no budget, and no promise of success.
James and Ellen White chose to be faithful in a small thing.
That tiny act of obedience, printing and mailing a few dozen papers changed lives.
It built community . And it helped give shape to a worldwide movement
that would soon organize into the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
We often think that to make a difference, we need a title,
a microphone, or a following.
History tells us another story.
Sometimes the most world changing things begin in rooms.
No one sees with hands.
No one notices by people who simply refuse to stay quiet.
. Maybe you don't feel like you have a big platform.
Maybe you're working with borrowed time, borrowed space, or borrowed courage.
And that's okay.
The publishing work of the Early Adventist Church didn't begin with influence.
It began with faith and who knows what your words might do.
. Episode nine One Room.
Big Dreams Read by Megan Skene.