Shortly afterward James and Ellen White visited his home at Buck's Bridge.

For three years he conducted Sabbath meetings in his home, then he erected and owned a church building on his property.

In a nearby home his daughter, Martha (George Washington Amadon) taught what is thought to be the first Adventist elementary school (1853).

He worked closely with James White and J. N. Andrews in helping to plan for the growing Sabbatarian Adventist movement.

In 1863 at the initial organization of the General Conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, he became the denomination's first president - an office he held for two one-year terms.