6. Impact on Church Institutions

Another reason I find Ellen White’s counsels still relevant has to do with her impact on the church’s institutions, both in establishing them and in administering them.LSS 6.9

Not just a preaching ministry, Adventists sponsor both a world-wide education system, and a world-wide publishing work. In addition, our medical program is internationally known, all largely the product of Ellen White’s nurturing.LSS 6.10

The fact is that these worldwide programs would never have reached their present achievements without the foresight and principles set forth by Ellen White. But it’s not their worldwide scope that makes them special, but rather it is their unique objectives. Adventist schools, publishing houses, and medical facilities are not distinctive merely because they are run by religious people, but because of carefully guided principles outlined by God through Ellen White.LSS 6.11

Some non-Adventists have conjectured that without Ellen White, Adventists would not have survived as we are known today. Kenneth L. Woodward, Newsweek magazine’s religion editor, observed: “If it [the Seventh-day Adventist denomination] loses its founding mother, the church may find that it has also lost its distinctive visionary soul.” ^{8Newsweek, Jan. 19, 1981.}LSS 7.1

Relevant to me today? I should say so, if even non-Adventists recognize that Ellen White’s vision (could I say “visions?”) drive this church.LSS 7.2