The 1930s witnessed significant tensions within the top ranks of Adventist Church leadership. General Conference officers found themselves obliged to think through the problem of how to understand the role of the Ellen G. White appointed trustees and what was the nature of their responsibility as custodians of the enormous collection of Ellen G. White's writings.

Were the trustees to be a super-administration calling church leaders to account? This was how W. C. White seemed to view the role. But the General Conference officers disagreed. Did W. C. White also have the gift of prophecy? And as W. A. Spicer pointed out, did not Napoleon suggest that it was better to have one weak general than two strong ones divided?

The debate was painful at times and awkward because it was so sensitive. But eventually all agreed that the residue of the gift of prophecy did not belong just to one family. The spiritual resource resident in the collection of Ellen White's writings belonged in a unique way to the whole church. This consensus led to the transfer of the White Estate from California to Washington DC.

But it was a long road from Elmshaven to the east coast and at times the going was quite rocky. In this book Dr Gil Valentine relates the intriguing story of a maturing theological awareness in the church and the gradual development of structural arrangements that reflected sound theology and enabled the church and the trustees to work together in ensuring that the writings of Ellen White continued to be a blessing in the church.