Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

in the newspaper the number of visits made the previous week. During September, 1953, the
members made 5,973 soul-winning calls.
Miracles in the life of Tom Malone began before he started the work in Pontiac. Born in
New Orleans, Louisiana, he was reared by his grandparents on a red-clay farm in Alabama. As a
boy he attended the Isbell Methodist Church, a little over a mile from the farmhouse. The second
Sunday of August was their traditional time for the evangelistic meeting, but in 1935 the pastor
received a post card from the evangelist, cancelling his coming. The pastor preached, and at age
19 Malone went forward and knelt at an old-fashioned altar and received Jesus Christ as his
Saviour. Two weeks later he went to Bob Jones University in Cleveland, Tennessee. He testifies
that the influence of Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., and the university did more to prepare him for the
ministry than any other factor. Dr. Malone has served on the board of directors of Bob Jones
University and he received a doctor’s degree from them in June, 1954.
After graduation he went into evangelism for a year and then took a Methodist-Protestant
church in Leonard, Michigan, described as the least progressive city in the United States during
the past 50 years. Within six months Malone filled the church and then answered the call to come
to Pontiac. He has been at the Emmanuel Baptist Church for 30 years and lived in the same
house for 24 years, giving credence to the statement that a young man can build a great church
for God simply by settling down and devoting his life to saturating his city with the gospel.
When the members were asked why the church was successful, many of them point to
Malone’s hard work and visitation. Another indicated his consistent outstanding biblical
preaching. Malone prints his sermons in the Baptist Vision, mailed to some 10,000 preachers
around America who eagerly await his sermons printed in their entirety. Rev. Tom Malone, Jr.,
testifies that the success of his father is due to the fact that “he builds greater sermons from
scratch than any other preacher alive.” When the senior Malone was asked what was the most
thrilling victory he had had in the past 31 years, he testified, “When God called my son into the
ministry under my preaching, and now Tom is an associate pastor in the church.” Historians
might feel that the greatest accomplishment of the church is the 200 young men who have gone
out of Emmanuel Baptist Church to start and/or pastor other churches throughout the world.
The Emmanuel Baptist Church was one of the first to start Sword of the Lord
conferences, and from the time of its beginning has had nationally known speakers in its pulpit.
Dr. John R. Rice has been a guest preacher in the church for years. Emmanuel Baptist Church
has also been a leader in holding Sunday School conventions for other churches throughout
Michigan.
Tom Malone has stood firm for the gospel over the years. At one time one faction in the
church did not want a pastor-led evangelistic ministry and began gathering forces to get rid of
Malone. The agitators wanted the church like the average American Protestant church, typically
dead. They called a prayer meeting and were actually praying to get rid of Tom Malone. He felt
he should go to the meeting, since he was pastor, and slipped into the room as the people were
praying. He knelt beside one of his workers, an educated, effective teacher, and heard him beg,
“God, 1 want you to kill that man. I want you to destroy him.” There were shouts of “Amen” in
the room. Malone testified, “I got up and walked out of the room with fear and trembling-and a
broken heart. I was not walking presumptuously, but trying to walk in the will of God.” He knew