At the age of 14, John went preaching and was recognized as a “powerful speaker.” At six feet tall, he was no longer a frail, sickly boy but had grown to be handsome and sturdy. In 1843 the Andrews family went to the Second Advent meetings and became Millerites. They experienced the great disappointment on October 22, 1844. But between 1844 and 1845 when John was 15 years old, Mirian Stowel gave him a tract about the seventh-day Sabbath. It was well received.

Soon afterwards, in 1850, James and Ellen White moved into the Andrews house because James wanted to start publishing a new periodical called The Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. So John Andrews started writing articles for the Review that impressed James White so much that two years later, when they set up an office for the Review, James invited John to join the staff as one of the corresponding editors. But as part of the Review, John still was not completely satisfied. He wanted to preach the gospel on foot, going to different places proclaiming the message.

In the year 1855 John lost all his courage after traveling so much. He lost a lot of his health, and looked like a beggar. Eventually he made his way back to the office where James and Ellen White offered him a room to sleep and food to eat until he got better. He ended up staying there ten weeks until his health improved.

After staying with the Whites, John decided to go home to see his family. That same year someone asked him whether the Sabbath begins at 6:00 p.m. or at sunset. By studying the Bible, he was able to show that it was from sunset to sunset.

Inspired by an article of James White urging believers to open new territory by taking the message further west, the Andrews family accepted the challenge. They moved to Waukon, Iowa, on the opposite side of the Mississippi River. The open—both geographically and spiritually. It was there that John Andrews married Angeline Stevens. (In marrying Angeline he also became the brother-in-law of Uriah Smith, as she was Uriah’s wife’s sister.)

Another famous Advent pioneer who moved out west was John Loughborough. Back in the east though, where James and Ellen White were still living, Brn. Loughborough and Andrews were greatly missed. But that was not the real problem—the Whites were concerned that these brethren were getting sidetracked from their true calling and mission. At great personal sacrifice, the Whites decided to go to Iowa and urge the two families to come back east. It seemed as if these new Iowans had switched from harvesting souls in the east to harvesting crops in the west. After the long and hard trip, the Whites reached Iowa and convinced the two Johns to go back to preaching. So John Andrews began holding meetings locally and within two years, in 1859, he began traveling again, this time maintaining his focus to spread the everlasting gospel far and wide.

The separation between John and Angeline was hard on them both, but they wrote to each other constantly. One time, in June 1860, Angeline walked to the post office to see if there was a letter for her. To her disappointment there was none. She stayed the night there, hoping to find one in the morning—only to be disappointed again because there was no letter. Sadly she walked three and a half miles back home. She wrote in her diary: “I miss him much, but it is for the Lord’s work and I will do it cheerfully.” But she was not alone—she had two children. Their first son, Charles, was born in the year 1857 and their second child Mary was born in the year 1861.

In the same year that Mary was born, John Andrews published his classic study that he had researched on the Sabbath, entitled History of the Sabbath & the First Day of the Week.

John moved his family back to Rochester because he felt he could labor more effectively in New York. The Civil War brought problems to the men who had accepted the Advent message—they received a lot of official inquiries as to whether or not they could conscientiously bear arms. James White felt that they should be non-combatant and take a moral stand, so John Andrews traveled to Washington to meet with the officials of the Lincoln administration, explaining about their beliefs. The mission was successful.

John Andrews traveled so much that sometimes, when he would return home, his children could not recognize him. Once when he arrived back home from a long trip, he went to pick up his daughter. She ran to her mother screaming—she would not sit on someone’s lap that she did not know. (She did not realize it was her father!) Charles, their eldest child came limping toward his father. When John looked at him, he saw that one leg was much thinner that the other—a condition which was greatly improved by the use of hot and cold packs.

John kept writing tracts and articles, but due to his frequent work late into the night, it was often at the expense of his health.

After John Byington and James White, John Andrews became the third president of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference, from May 14, 1867, to May 18, 1869. He was then chosen editor of The Review and Herald from 1869 to 1870.

Right about this time, the denomination in Battle Creek received a letter from Albert Vuilleumier of Switzerland, bringing news that there were 50 Sabbathkeepers there and they wanted someone to move to Switzerland to spread the everlasting gospel. Ten years earlier an ex-Catholic priest named Michael Czechowski had accepted the message and moved to Europe to preach the gospel. Now these 50 Sabbathkeepers were the result of his work, and the desire was to see it expand further. So, the denominational leaders decided to send their first official missionary overseas. In Ellen White’s words, they sent “the ablest man in our ranks”—John Andrews.

It was in 1874 that John and his 16-year-old son, Charles, and his 12-year-old daughter, Mary, made the trip to Switzerland. Just two years earlier, in 1872, the children’s mother Angeline had suffered a fatal stroke. She had never complained when he was gone for a long time. They never said unkind things to each other. She had also helped John in any way she could in his travels. After his wife’s death, Ellen White had advised John to remarry, but he felt that no one could replace Angeline.

One day an elderly man stopped by the house where Andrews was giving a Bible study, to ask for money. He was invited in and was surprised to find people singing and having a service. He was given food to eat and he decided to stay and hear the service. After John Andrews had spoken, the beggar told them that there was a group like this in Germany. The man had kept the address in case he was ever in that area. After hearing that, Andrews went with James Erzberger, the translator, to Germany. Once there they were happy to see that there were 46 Sabbathkeepers. The Sabbathkeepers were very happy to have John and James with them. They ended staying there for five weeks. John returned after the five weeks of visiting, but James Erzberger stayed there continuing the Lord’s work.

John and his children needed to learn French. They realized that the best way to learn French was to stop speaking English. They decided to only speak English for one hour a day, from five-o-clock to six-o-clock in the evening. It was very hard for them. But this was the best way. Sometimes they would wait till five o’clock, then talk really fast till six o’clock, then go back to speaking French. All their hard work paid off because they learned very well how to speak French!

John moved to Basel, Switzerland, so he could start printing. In July 1876 he published the first monthly paper Les Signes des Temps (The Signs of the Times). Then in 1882 three new periodicals in as many languages were begun: the German Herold der Wahr-heit, Italian L’Ultimo Messaggio (The Last Message), and the Romanian Adeverulu Present (Present Truth).”

The health of the Andrews family was not good. There was no homemaker—young Mary was not a cook, although she did become very good at French. In a short time she was proofreading the French publications, even finding mistakes that the French copy editors had missed. One of the French workers stated: “Mary speaks French as though she were a French girl.”

Sadly, in the summer of 1878, Mary got tuberculosis. Her condition became worse and when John received an invitation to go to Battle Creek for a General Conference he took her along with him. The doctor told John that he might end up getting tuberculosis, too, because he hardly left Mary’s bedside. On November 27 she died. She was 17 years old. Four years of service had come to an end in Europe for her. First John had lost his wife and now his daughter was gone. He stayed in Battle Creek that winter to try to regain his own health.

On May 29 of the same year he returned to Europe with a few companions. But he got so sick that he could not continue his trip until August 11.

Meanwhile more people were calling to receive Les Signes. That was good news for John. But he still had not recovered completely. When he went to the doctor, he was told that since one of his lungs was almost gone and the other one infected, there was no hope for him. The tuberculosis had advanced and had gotten worse.

At this point John decided that he really had to quit working as missionary director in Europe. Elder B. L. Whitney was chosen to sail across the Atlantic with John’s mother so he could take over the work that John could no longer do.

John wrote his last report to the Review on July 22, 1883, saying: “My life seems wholly filled with faults. I pray that I may be thoroughly cleansed in the blood of Christ, those who have seen my faults may freely forgive me.”

We should be thankful for the work that John Andrews did. He spent his whole life working for the Lord. He also did extensive Bible research on the tithing system, which the denominational structure adopted. His spirit of sacrifice was great—even though he was sent as a missionary to Europe, the church did not pay him a specific salary.

John Andrews died of tuberculosis on October 21, 1883, at the age of 54 in Basel, Switzerland. Although acclaimed as an outstanding evangelist, he is best known for his writing ability. Besides his dozens of articles and several books, his masterpiece, History of the Sabbath, was published in several editions and is still appreciated today as a valuable reference tool.

Quiet, yet dynamic, the entire mind, life, and energy of John Nevins Andrews were wholeheartedly dedicated to promoting the cause he loved. If more believers in the three angels’ messages would live such an exemplary life, how soon the Lord’s work could be finished and God’s people hasten the glorious return of Jesus Christ. Let us be inspired by such a legacy!