Dr. Tom Malone

Graduates to Heaven



Dr. Thomas Lloyd (Tom) Malone, 91, graduated to Heaven on January 7, 2007. Pastor Emeritus of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan and founder of Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Dr. Malone, one of America’s best known and beloved Baptist preachers, had been in declining health for the past five years.


A graduate of Bob Jones College, he also earned a PHD. (cum laude) at Wayne State University of Detroit.

After two brief pastorates in the Detroit area in 1942, Dr. Malone founded the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac which he would serve as pastor a total of over fifty years. For more than thirty years of that time the church was recognized to be among the one hundred largest churches in America.


In 1954 he founded Midwestern Baptist College. In its 53 years, the college has trained and graduated many hundreds of preachers and Christian workers who serve faithfully in churches around the world.

Tom Malone Jr. dies,

February 8, 2007


Just one month and two days after his famous father, Dr. Tom Malone, Sr. died, Tom Malone, Jr has also died. On February 8 Malone, Jr, passed away after several years of declining health. Visitation will be from 12:00pm to 2:00pm and funeral services are scheduled for 2 pm. On Saturday, February 10.

For more than fifty years Dr. Malone was one of the most sought after pulpeteers in the world. Featured regularly on almost every national platform in independent Baptist circles, and a regular guest in the pulpit of every large fundamental church in America, he was a master craftsman in the preparation of sermons and a prince of preachers at the time of the sermon’s delivery. Dr. John R. Rice often referred to him as “perhaps the greatest pulpiteer of his generation.”


A member of the board of the Sword of the Lord Publishers since 1958, he also authored a dozen books which have had a worldwide circulation.


As a private pilot, he credentialed himself with a twin engine instructor rating.


He is survived by his wife, Joyce (Harned), to whom he was married for sixty-seven years; one son, Thomas, Jr.; and two daughters, Joy Paige and Debra Rydman. He was preceded in death by another daughter, Sylvia Elaine, who died in infancy. There are also eleven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. A son-in-law, Tim Rydman, has attended closely to Dr. & Mrs. Malone during this time.


Arrangements are being handled by the Donelson Johns and Evans Funeral Home in Waterford. Visitation times for family and friends will be Monday January 8, 2007, 7:00-9:00 pm, and Tuesday, January 9, 2007, 3:00-5:00 pm and 7:00-9:00pm.


The funeral will be held in the Lakin chapel on the campus of Midwestern Baptist College, 825 Golf Drive in Pontiac, on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 2:00 pm.


Officiating ministers will be Dr. Nick Crow, Dr. David Carr, Dr. Todd Vanaman, Dr. John Hamblin and Dr. Shelton Smith.


In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Dr. Malone may be made to Midwestern Baptist College’s scholarship fund.