Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

Emmanuel Baptist Church
Pontiac, Michigan Tom Malone, Pastor
“Thirty Years of Growth and Miracles”
“From tavern to temple” aptly describes the background of the location of Emmanuel
Baptist Church, Pontiac, Michigan. The transformation began the day Tom Malone took his wife
to lunch at a “longest-hot-dog” drive-in. As they got in their car to leave, she suggested, “Why
don’t we go home another way?” Because Malone, a pastor of a small Sunday School mission on
the north side of Pontiac, was looking for a church site that day in 1942, he was quick to spot a
“For Sale” sign. It was on Castle Inn Tavern on Telegraph Road. As they got out of their car,
parted the weeds, and looked around the building, God seemed to say to Tom Malone, “This is
the place for the church.”
The Malones returned home, knelt and prayed, then called the realtor. Within two hours
he had signed the document, knowing that thirteen businesses had previously used the building
and one of the most infamous taverns in the city had most recently occupied it. Police reported
raids there several times, backing up the paddy wagons to the front door to haul away those
arrested.
Malone needed $1800 down payment but could only raise $100 by mortgaging his
furniture. He moved into the building immediately. He began knocking on doors, witnessing to
everyone he saw, and preached on Sunday. Within three weeks before the abstract giving him
possession of the property was finalized, God had supplied the money. The first week, 30
gathered on the folding chairs set up on the dance floor, and within eight weeks 250 saturated the
converted preaching hall. The band shell formed a perfect choir loft, and from the very beginning
the church has enjoyed outstanding music through the leadership of Mrs. Joyce Malone, who still
leads the choir.
Malone went on the radio almost immediately with a daily broadcast and continued to
preach the gospel to the city for nearly twenty years, until the station moved to Detroit. To this
day Dr. Malone testifies that the church has grown because of this deep concern to reach the lost,
and concentrated visitation. Within four weeks, he had organized a bus visitation program and
had four bus routes reaching parts of Pontiac with the gospel, making his probably the oldest
continuous bus ministry in America. Many other larger churches that began with “convenience
bus service” later dropped that ministry and only recently returned with evangelistic bus
outreach. Emmanuel Baptist Church now has 700 bus workers (including drivers, captains and
visitors) who operate 40 buses per Sunday and bring in approximately 1200 riders per week. The
church has had a high of 3100 on the buses; in the near future Malone plans to average 2,000
riders per week.
Malone realizes that the church has been built on visitation and still puts his main
emphasis on door-to-door soul winning. There are four organized programs per week, with two
meals of fellowship, so that the people eat together, fellowship together, then go out and serve
God together. The largest visitation program witnessed 600 who went calling, resulting in 167
decisions in the home; the following Sunday 156 were baptized. In the early days Malone listed