Regarding Tom McNaughton (Toledo)

[UntoHim]

I've been informed by sources whom I consider reliable that brother Tom McNaughton who contributed to the Local Church Discussions Forum under the moniker of "Toledo" passed away within the past few days in Toledo, Ohio.

Tom was about 70 years old & served full-time among the Great Lakes area (GLA) local churches--Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus & Toledo--for many years, beginning in the mid/late 1980s. I'm sure many believers in the Great lakes area local churches have fond memories of Brother Tom, his sharp wit & insightful comments.

Among GLA churches Tom was one of the few believers who was proficient in NT Greek and he made it clear (in discreet ways) when ministering brothers (who were much less proficient in Greek) tried to buttress dubious doctrines with a façade of less-than-scholarly Greek.

Tom McNaughton was a decorated Vietnam war Veteran who served his country proudly. Due to this he suffered frequent pain over many decades, nevertheless he remained a loyal & cheerful follower of Jesus Christ who has now "finished his course & kept the faith."

" 'Til we meet again, on the other side"

Nigel Tomes

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[UntoHim]

Toledo's Last Post 1/18/2015

Originally Posted by OBW

Lord's recovery. ...The Lord's recovery is a designator for the sect of people who follow the ideologies of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, declare that the only true church is the one that stands "on the ground of locality," accept that they are becoming God in life and nature, but not Godhead, and believe that the trinity, though true, and therefore three, is irrelevant because they are "simply" one. And if they do not agree to excommunicate Titus Chu and others who did not follow the unscriptural decrees, such as the Phoenix Accord, they are themselves cut off.

And then the legal team goes to work to "recover" the name (that they don't have) from the excommunicated group so that they can declare another lampstand in that city and call themselves by the "proper" no-name name. Oh, and try to sue for the property of the local assembly (the assembly that was at least once local in administration) by claiming more than local administration.

Ouch, now THAT's gonna leave a mark...!

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[Amcasci]

So...is Tom dead or alive? I am trying to let in touch with him. He apparently has a law practice that is alive. I have a phone number and the voice on the machine sounds like Tom.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Amcasci

So...is Tom dead or alive? I am trying to let in touch with him. He apparently has a law practice that is alive. I have a phone number and the voice on the machine sounds like Tom.

Tom passed away on Saturday.

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Tom passed away on Saturday.

RIP brother Tom. I remember Ohio's story about him: "I'm not late, I'm married"; even Titus Chu had to laugh.

Oh that we could all get to the other side of this damn thing, where we could laugh together and not fight over names and doctrines. May God have mercy, "until we all arrive together..."

[Amcasci]

Christ is risen! O death where is your sting!

I am saddened by the home going of Tom. Tom was the director of a jesus people house in Newark Ohio when I met hi. He was insturmental in my life in 1971. I hooked up with the LC first and I actually was then insturmental in Tom, Karen and a few others coming to Akron. Only days ago I finally got a phone number for him and called and left a message on his machine. dear Tom I look forward to seeing you again. I should add that Tom kept me going into the children of God movement which surely would have been the end of me.

I am sorry but I have to go on. Tom was so very alive, had a keen mind. He actually enlisted in the army so he could be an officer instead of a grunt. He saw much horror. I remember him telling me how terrifying it was to hear mortar shells on the way and how helpless it felt.

I am so happy to have know Tom.

Does anyone know of his brother Jim? He was a character and quite different from Tom. I hope Jim is doing ok.
Te Deum Laudamus

Art

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

RIP brother Tom. I remember Ohio's story about him: "I'm not late, I'm married"; even Titus Chu had to laugh.

Oh that we could all get to the other side of this damn thing, where we could laugh together and not fight over names and doctrines. May God have mercy, "until we all arrive together..."

Tom could have been a stand up comic, but instead he used his gift to help others in the Lord.

I remember being in a GLA leaders' meeting of some sort, and prayer (Amen!, Amen!, Amen!) was being commented on. Tom, in one of his famous quips, whispers to the few around him "we pray in 6.7.6.7 meter."

That simple comment helped me, and helped to deliver me from man-pleasing, programmed public prayers.

.......................

Just to clarify something. The moniker pic on Tom's page. It was not him. But he did live in Toledo.

[UntoHim]

Does anybody have any photos of Tom? If you do please email them to me at LocalChurchDiscussions@Gmail.Com and I will post them on the Forum.

[UntoHim]

Thank you to brother Nigel Tomes for supplying the photo of Tom that I have placed on the Forum.

[Amcasci]

Yes... Many thanks for the picture. Take away the gray and a few wrinkles and Tom had not changed. Good to see his image.wire rims...mustache...yea that is Tom.

Can anyone tell me anything about his brother Jim? Jim was older.

[Rick Coleman]

This is the information concerning Tom McNaughton's service.

From the McNaughton Family:

We are greatly moved by your outpouring of love and support as we work our way through this week.

Memorial Service scheduled Friday, April 17th
Visitation: 4 pm
Service: 8 pm

H.H. Birkencamp Funeral Home
3219 Tremainsville Rd.
Toledo, OH 43613

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Amcasci

Yes... Many thanks for the picture. Take away the gray and a few wrinkles and Tom had not changed. Good to see his image.wire rims...mustache...yea that is Tom.

Can anyone tell me anything about his brother Jim? Jim was older.

For as long as I remember, Jim lived in the Carolinas.

..............................

Tom and Karen had 5 boys, and 2 girls, with too many grand kids.

[Amcasci]

Originally Posted by Rick Coleman

This is the information concerning Tom McNaughton's service.

From the McNaughton Family:

We are greatly moved by your outpouring of love and support as we work our way through this week.

Memorial Service scheduled Friday, April 17th
Visitation: 4 pm
Service: 8 pm

H.H. Birkencamp Funeral Home
3219 Tremainsville Rd.
Toledo, OH 43613

Rick,
Thanks for the i formation. If I were in the United States I would be there but this morning I arrived in Amsterdam for vacation. Toledo is not that far from dayton and it pains me that he was so near all these years. I have several times tried to locate Tom but only last week did I find him. Rick I still get to Detroit several times a year. I sent you my phone. Give me a buzz and send me your number.
Art

[Ohio]

Toledo Blade obit ...

McNAUGHTON, Tom

Tom McNaughton, 69, passed away April 11, 2015, of Toledo, was a lot of things. "Exasperating" comes to mind. Curmudgeon, perhaps. A loyal friend and a good man to have on your side (he could dead lift 315 lbs). Above all, he was a follower of Christ.

Tom earned a Bronze star, Purple Heart, Air Medal, and Combat Infantry Badge for his service with the 1st Cav in Vietnam. He married Karen Booher and for 45 years they relentlessly pursued the Lord together - even if it wasn't always pretty.

...The mustache came by storm in the latter years of his life (it lifted weights with him).

As Tom sleeps, he leaves Karen; his children, Jim (Cindy), Jesse, Peter (Betsy), Cori (Doug), Zachariah, Asher (Christina), and Leah (Rick); brothers, Bill and James (Sue); 16 grand kids, and several feral cats. His brother Rodger preceded him.

The Viking funeral didn't pan out, so services will be held at H.H. Birkenkamp Funeral Home Friday, Visitation 4-8, Service 8-9. In lieu of flowers, the family asks all donations go to Tom's niece, Katy Hayes.

Tom would want laughter, not mourning, and so we do our best. But he is missed. Our comfort lies in knowing we will see him again.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" 2 Tim 4:7

Hey Dad, I got published!

[Rick Coleman]

John Myer posted about Tom on bareknuckles.org

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Rick Coleman

John Myer posted about Tom on bareknuckles.org

Here is a better link for John Myer on Tom McNaughton

Here is the article ...

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read” (Jones).

Nobody can say this with more certainty than a Christian. We’ve got books—the sixty-six that make up the Bible. We’ve got people—other followers of Jesus. Between these two forces, your Christian life is cast.
We’re used to thinking of the Bible as prime motivator. People, we think, are too problematic to actually be helpful. That might be what we think, but my experience has been the opposite.

Folks come and go, crossing your life path, bringing help and support and joy for a season, and then they do what most inevitably do—move on. But every now and then a few appear repeatedly at cardinal points. These are rare people assigned to you as a gracious bequest of God. Notice them. Value them.

They will not be perfect, but neither are their imperfections so pronounced that they lead in the wrong direction. Their flaws are not so deep that they turn into hypocrites. Their temperaments are not so unbalanced that they’re either bullies or negligent. They’re imperfect in the perfect way you need them to be.

Cleveland—I Didn’t Know What to Do

I think of Tom McNaughton. Passionate, brilliant, salty, kind, and imperfect. Exactly what another imperfect younger man needed one night in Cleveland, 1988. I had been trying to make up my mind about whether I should go into full-time vocational ministry. Knowing I was deliberating over this, Tom pulled me aside after a church meeting. He got in my face with that quirky blend of Richard Dreyfus, Robin Williams, the Marlboro man, and the Holy Spirit.

“Do you want to be full-time?”

“Yes, but I don’t have enough money and my wife is pregnant and…”

He put his hand up to silence me. “Brother, that’s not what I asked.” And with crisp diction as though talking to someone who was mentally handicapped, asked, “ Do…you…want…to serve…the Lord…full time?”

“Yes, but…”

Again the hand went up. “That’s not what I asked. It’s a yes or no answer. Now which is it, yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, everything else will work out.”

That got through to me.

And by the way, everything else did work out…for the last twenty-seven years of full-time ministry.

Chicago and Detroit—I Didn’t Know How to Do It

But that encounter wasn’t all. Tom was going to be around for other seminal moments. During a ministry workshop session in Chicago, I was still learning how to preach and not making much progress. That day, though, I had a breakthrough and developed into a personal style that felt right. The room came alive. But the feedback from the trainers said that I was undisciplined—gifted, but potentially more of a detriment to a church than a blessing to it. I felt utterly deflated.

Tom found me after the meeting.

“It occurred to me while you were ministering that you have an unusually effective speaking gift. Do you know what that means?”

I must have looked clueless, like the man who has been told he has won a Lamborghini, but thinks that means a plate of fancy pasta noodles.

“No.”

“It means you have something wonderful, but you need to learn to handle it. “During the Vietnam conflict, guess what weapon a soldier was most likely to have an accident with.”

“I dunno, artillery rounds, maybe?”

“No. The .45 pistol. It’s the thing a serviceman has strapped on his side all the time, so it’s the weapon he’s prone to be the most careless with. That’s why the standard issue .45 has three different safeties on it—so you won’t get overly comfortable with it and shoot yourself in the leg … kind of like what you did this morning at the front of the room.”

I didn’t forget that lesson and learned it even more in Detroit a few years later, when I was helping Tom give a conference there.

“We’ll let you open this evening, but you can only have fifteen minutes,” he told me.

I took twenty.

After the meeting, when everybody was thanking me for my awesome ministry, Tom found me.

“Brother, please accompany me to the other room.”

There, he pulled out a pocket notebook where he had jotted down many things. Wow. Tom had taken notes during my message. I was expecting a “You are hugely gifted” talk, like he’d given me in Chicago.
Then he started reading the notes: “John does not respect limitations. He puts himself first. He is careless with his gift and wastes it because he is full of godless chatter.”

I was stunned, tried to defend myself a little bit.

It didn’t work.

“I’m pulling you off the conference line-up,” he said.

But after a day or so, he penciled me back in. “Okay, you have fifteen minutes of the last meeting,” he told me.

I finished that morning in 14.57 minutes and put every bit of substance I had into it.

Tom found me after the meeting.

“You really had the anointing,” he said. “Good stuff!”

As I piled into the van to leave, I wondered what the heck had just happened. I figure I had learned something about the safety on a .45 pistol.

Laughing Along the Way

Tom didn’t walk around like the wise karate sensei all the time. But he did tease relentlessly. When I entered a room, he was likely to greet me with “Look, it’s Johnny Moooooore.” There were cracks about whether I was wearing socks. About my southern accent. A time or two I gave messages that were going so badly he sat in the back of the room directly in my line of sight, and throttled himself with his tie.

And on a couple of occasions I dared to use Greek studies in a message. He shook his head no, no, no while I was talking and shook it extra hard when he saw me looking at him, as if to say, “Please step away from the linguistics.” (Note: never try to teach the meaning of a Greek word to a man whose pocket Bible is in Greek).

“Who told you that word meant that?” he asked later.

I told him the name of the book.

“Did you order it through the mail, or did you buy it in the store?”

“I got it at the store.”

“Good, it should be easier to get your money back.”

On another occasion a man offended me badly. Tom was standing next to me when it happened. He knew I was quietly fuming, but loved to instigate, so he leaned over and whispered to me, “Have you apologized to him yet?” Me apologize? I blew up and then Tom lectured me on the evils of not having a right spirit.

I have to admit that it was all so funny I didn’t mind.

Blessed

Though I haven’t personally seen Tom for the last six years or so, these past interactions don’t vanish. They just settle into your bones and make you who you are. It’s a gracious gift.

God has graced me with a number of other men I could write about. I guess I’m blessed that way. But for right now, I’m thinking about Tom.
We lost him this last Saturday night as he slipped away to be with Jesus.

Still, I don’t think I’ll ever completely lose him.

----- John Myer

[Amcasci]

This is bugging me and so I have to ask...what exactly happened to tom? Was he I'll for a time?

[VoiceInWilderness]

Originally Posted by Amcasci

This is bugging me and so I have to ask...what exactly happened to tom? Was he I'll for a time?

Tom seemed to be in great shape.

On Tues, 4/7, Tom posted on Facebook that he had unrelenting chest pain and was going to go to sleep.
A lot of people responded that he better go to the ER.
Tom replied that he misspoke, that the pain was indigestion.
A man replied that his last heart attack was “indigestion”.
Tom then replied that he talked to his doctor and that everything was under control.
On Friday or Saturday, Karen went to visit their daughter, Leah. When she returned Tom was in bed passed away.

[VoiceInWilderness]

This is a FaceBook post from bro Keith Miller in Cincinnati:

Dear McNaughton Family,
I just wanted to express my deep sorrow in the passing of Tom. He was such an inspiration to me, especially in my younger years as a Christian. Though I have not been in touch with him much in the past several years I have nothing but the utmost admiration for him. I wanted to share a brief story I had with Tom that most people are not aware of.
Back in the late 1980’s I was really going through a difficult time personally and spiritually. My work schedule made it difficult for me to attend the church gatherings (at least that was the excuse I gave for no longer attending the Sunday morning gatherings). I think my attitude made it difficult for people to reach out to me. Gradually, I was slipping away spiritually. Though I was not particularly close to Tom, for some reason he took it upon himself to come and visit me. I remember him sitting and listening as I talked about all that was going on with me. I remember thinking that here is someone who truly cares about me as a person.
While we talked about many things that day Tom shared with me something that has never left me. He said, “The Lord’s Day is not about you. It is about Him. It is His day, not your day. Continue with all your other pursuits but on this day you owe it to Him to remember Him.” This loving kick in the pants was exactly what I needed to hear. I started attending Sunday morning church gatherings after that. But it wasn’t just about getting me back to church but about forever changing my understanding of church and my role as a member of Christ’s body.
Thank you brother Tom for getting me back on track and being obedient to the Lord in running after this one lost sheep. I am thankful for the time we spent together, brief as it was. I love you my dear brother in Christ.

[VoiceInWilderness]

Tom McNaughton was one of the very rare Christians who was a friend of sinners in the way that the Lord Himself was.
He lived Col 4:6 "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one."
He had a way of being genuine with people so that people were enlightened, but not condemned. If they were convicted, they were also enlightened so they could take the conviction.
He had a genuine FaceBook ministry, though I'm sure he did not consider it such.
He actually read my FB posts, and he'd ask me to comment on articles about Israel.
He was unapologetically pro-Israel.
He also lived Psalm 25:10a "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth."

[VoiceInWilderness]

Tom's Memorial meeting was like no other. It is worth listening to even if you did not know Tom. The beauty and faithfulness of the Lord in a down-to-earth man. Here's a link to the audio. You can download it and listen to it in your car:
http://www.churchindetroit.org/audio...onMemorial.MP3

[VoiceInWilderness]

Originally Posted by VoiceInWilderness

Tom's Memorial meeting was like no other. It is worth listening to even if you did not know Tom. The beauty and faithfulness of the Lord in a down-to-earth man. Here's a link to the audio. You can download it and listen to it in your car:
http://www.churchindetroit.org/audio...onMemorial.MP3

It was a genuine expression of the early church life we had.

[Amcasci]

Thanks for the link. I listened to the service today.

[TLFisher]

Thank you VoiceInWilderness and Ohio for your posts on Toledo.

[VoiceInWilderness]

Here's a couple more stories about brother Tom:

A brother wrote RK around 1998, a little bit after brother Lee went to be with the Lord, with some concerns about the Lord's Recovery.
RK wrote back with a registered letter, which addressed none of the brother's concerns at all, but instead asked him 7 questions.
One of RK's questions was: Is it not true that in your living room someone stated, "The brothers in Anaheim can't share their way out of a paper bag?" What was your reaction?
Of course, that was Tom that made the statement quoted by RK.
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April 25, 2015
Remembering my dear brother in Christ Tom McNaughton.
My first meeting with brother Tom was in the spring of 1974. A dear brother, Virgil who worked in Akron came up to the Cleveland branch warehouse on a monday where I was working. He and I had great fellowship and he shared Christ with me for over an hour. It was the best lunch break I ever had. He told me about the meetings and I asked if I could go to one. He said it so happens that the church is having a love feast and gospel meeting this coming Saturday night. Sure enough on Saturday at 5:45 P.M. Virgil pulled into the driveway at my mother' house not far from Cleveland Hopkins Airport. Later I found out he drove all the way from Akron just to pick me up. We had a great love feast with lots of shining faces. After the love feast the chairs were all arranged in concentric circles. I sat in the last row of 3 rows. We sang and had a good time. Then I look to my left and seated 2 chairs away was this little brother in jeans and a red lumberjack shirt smiling, stomping his feet and playing the washboard, yes the washboard with a spoon. I asked him "what is that?" he responded "a spoon." We both laughed so hard. The whole place was quaking with joy. The enjoyment of the Lord was so dense that you could pick Him out of the air like picking fruit off a tree. Brother Tom was grinning from ear to ear. After a few supplement songs I had to ask him "could I play that?" and he answered with a 1,000 watt grin "no". He said "just enjoy" and I said okay. Then after a few weeks Tom started appearing at the warehouse. You see he at the time was an IBM repairman and came to fix the Selectric typewriters. We often made it a habit to find one another and fellowship for a few minutes. His IQ must have been pretty high. He learned law to be an attorney, learned Greek and some Hebrew. He once mentioned around 1979 maybe, that he was going to take a speed reading course and wondered if I wanted to join him and I said no - I soon regretted that decision. He was in my mind "a character who just loved Jesus." There are so many other stories but let it suffice to say, I surely loved and appreciated his labor on me and others throughout the years till his departure. I will be glad to testify how he helped me in the positive ways when we both stand before the judgment seat of Christ in the near future.
May the Lord bless his entire family in the coming years.
~
Jim W. Strieter,
Ohio
Contact Me
- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/tol....tUZ9gDYV.dpuf

[TLFisher]

In 2009 there was a conference in Raleigh, NC Steve Isitt attended as did Tom McNaughton. It was during this conference Tom revealed to Steve that a son of Tom's asked Tom about Steve's writings. Tom's response to his son was Steve's writings are right on.
Sometime after the infamous Ambato International Conference (where Ron Kangas refers to Steve Isitt as a man of death), Tom (aka Toledo) posted on the forum regarding Steve,
http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vB...=9268#post9268