Sawyer was originally pastor of the East Side Christian Church in Portland, Oregon, where until the beginning of the 1920s he built up a strong grouping of Anglo-Israelites with the Anglo-Israel Research Society.
[2] Sawyer was in demand as a speaker and in 1921 gave up his pastorate to dedicate himself exclusively to his lectures on the Pacific coast and western Canada, especially in Vancouver.
[3] In addition to his commitment to the Anglo-Israelite movement, Sawyer participated in the construction of the Oregon Ku Klux Klan of which he was leader from 1921 to 1924.
In 1922 he also took on the leadership of the Women's Organization of the Invisible Empire, founded by the leader of the Klan in Oregon, Fred Gifford.
[3] Originally a philo-Semite in the mold of Edward Hine, Sawyer's views shifted profoundly to the opinion that one could distinguish between the true Israelites, from whom the Anglo-Saxons were descended, and "false" Jews.