Take Off With Thomas Clark

Thomas
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Christianity

I help equip you to bring the peace of God to places you live, work, learn, and play. All for His glory! 

  1. 4h ago

    Winning Means Losing Well How to Respond Like Jesus When People Push Back

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Take Off with Thomas Clark, Thomas continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 9, “Winning Means Losing Well: How to Respond Like Jesus When People Push Back,” asks a challenging question: If we win the argument but misrepresent Jesus, did we really win? Culture often teaches us to win by having the last word, embarrassing the other person, proving we are right, exposing people publicly, or making sure nobody thinks we can be played with. But followers of Jesus cannot allow culture to disciple the way we respond to culture. Pasted text Looking at Matthew 5, this episode explores the way of Jesus: humility, mercy, peacemaking, loving enemies, praying for those who hurt us, and remaining faithful even when people insult, criticize, misunderstand, or reject us. Peacemaking is not passivity. It is Kingdom strength that refuses to let conflict make us look less like our Father. Pasted text Thomas also contrasts the culture’s will to power—the desire to control, dominate, defeat, or humiliate—with the way of Jesus, who uses power to serve, liberate, tell the truth, and bring peace. This matters especially in public conversations and online, where people may be watching how we respond before they ever hear us preach, teach, or explain what we believe. Pasted text Sometimes losing well means pausing before responding, telling the truth without dehumanizing, refusing to return harm for harm, praying for the person, knowing when to move on, and remembering that our goal is not simply to prove ourselves right—it is to help people see Jesus. Pasted text Key Line: If we win the argument but misrepresent Jesus, we may have won the wrong thing. I Will Statement: This week, I will choose one situation where I can represent Jesus by responding differently than the culture expects.  Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  2. Oct 20

    More Than Going to Heaven: The Good News That Jesus Is Lord

    Send us Fan Mail More Than Going to Heaven: The Good News That Jesus Is Lord It keeps the tension you want while immediately telling the listener what the episode is really about. Your episode makes clear that you are not presenting another Gospel or minimizing salvation, the cross, resurrection, repentance, or faith; you are recovering the fuller biblical announcement of Jesus as Savior, King, Lord, Restorer, and the One through whom God’s Kingdom has come near.  Pasted text Buzzsprout Description In this episode of Take Off with Thomas Clark, Thomas continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 8, “More Than Going to Heaven: The Good News That Jesus Is Lord,” asks an important question: Have we made the Gospel too small? The Gospel absolutely includes forgiveness, salvation, repentance, faith, the cross, and the resurrection. But the Good News is not merely about how to go to heaven when we die. It is the announcement that Jesus is Lord, the Kingdom of God has come near, sinful humanity can be restored to God, and we are invited to live under the reign of King Jesus now.  Pasted text Looking at Mark 1:14–15, this episode explores the Gospel Jesus proclaimed—the Good News of God’s Kingdom—and why repentance and faith call us into an entirely new way of life under His Lordship.  Pasted text Thomas also traces the Gospel back through God’s mission, showing how Jesus fulfills the promise God made to Abraham and restores sinful humanity to the shalom we lost: peace with God, peace with one another, wholeness, belonging, justice, restoration, and life under God’s good reign.  Pasted text The Gospel does not simply produce isolated believers. Through Christ, God creates a new people who carry His message of peace into the places we live, work, learn, and play. We do not merely invite people to attend something—we invite them to follow Someone. We do not merely offer religious comfort—we announce that Jesus is Lord.  Pasted text  Pasted text Key Line: A thin Gospel may produce people who want Jesus’ benefits, but a robust Gospel forms people who live under Jesus’ Lordship. I Will Statement: This week, I will practice sharing the Gospel as the Good News of Jesus’ Lordship, salvation, restoration, Kingdom, and new creation.  Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  3. Oct 13

    Culture Will Not Improve On Its Own

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Take Off with Thomas Clark, Thomas continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 7, “Culture Will Not Improve On Its Own,” explores a simple but important truth: culture is always being formed by somebody. Families, workplaces, neighborhoods, churches, social media, politics, entertainment, and everyday habits are constantly teaching people what is normal, what matters, how to treat one another, and what kind of life is worth pursuing. If followers of Jesus remain passive, the surrounding culture will keep forming people without resistance. Pasted text Looking at Genesis 1:26–28, this episode shows that humanity was created in the image of God to represent Him and cultivate the world in ways that reflect His goodness, justice, peace, beauty, and love. But sin did not only damage individuals—it also began shaping cultures of fear, hiding, mistrust, violence, and disobedience. Pasted text Pasted text The Good News is that Jesus does not leave us trapped in broken culture. Jesus fulfilled the promise God made to Abraham, died for our sins, rose from the dead, and through Him new creation has begun. Followers of Jesus are now part of a new people who can embody a different way of life under His Lordship—a culture marked by truth, hospitality, generosity, forgiveness, listening, humility, accountability, obedience, disciple-making, and peace. Pasted text You will also hear practical ways culture is created every day through the words we repeat, the habits we practice, what we tolerate, what we celebrate, and the relationships we build in the places we live, work, learn, and play. Pasted text Key Line: Culture is formed by what we repeatedly say, practice, permit, celebrate, and embody. I Will Statement: This week, I will name one small culture I am helping create and ask whether it reflects Jesus.  Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  4. Oct 6

    Presence Before Strategy: Learning to See People Like Jesus

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Take Off with Thomas Clark, Thomas continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 6, “Presence Before Strategy: Learning to See People Like Jesus,” explores why disciple-makers cannot faithfully serve people from a distance. Jesus did not simply observe people. He entered real places, walked among real people, noticed pain, listened, asked questions, identified needs, and responded with compassion, truth, prayer, and action.  Pasted text Too often, we can rush to start a program, create an event, offer an answer, or develop a strategy before we have taken time to understand the people and places Jesus has sent us to engage. But in disciple-making, presence comes before strategy, observation before action, discernment before design, and compassion before correction.  Pasted text Looking at Matthew 9:35–38, this episode shows how Jesus saw beyond the crowd to the real condition of people. What He saw moved Him with compassion, and that compassion led to prayer and the sending of workers into the harvest.  Pasted text You will also learn what cultural anthropology calls participant observation—being present enough to learn people’s stories, patterns, pain, hopes, longings, and losses—and why disciple-makers must stop guessing about people and start learning how to love them faithfully.  Pasted text And this episode makes an important distinction: faithful presence does not guarantee that everyone will follow Jesus. Even some who heard Jesus personally walked away. Our responsibility is not to control the outcome, but to remain faithful in how we observe, participate, love, serve, tell the truth, offer peace, and invite people to follow Him.  Pasted text Key Line: Presence before strategy helps us serve real people instead of imagined needs. I Will Statement: This week, I will spend time observing one place where I live, work, learn, or play and ask, “Lord, what are You already doing here?”  Pasted text Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  5. Sep 29

    Learn Before You Lead: Listening Before You Correct

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Take Off Podcast, Thomas Clark continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 5, “Learn Before You Lead: Listening Before You Correct,” explores why disciple-makers must learn people before trying to lead, correct, or help them. It is easy to assume that our way of speaking, thinking, worshiping, leading, or understanding the world is normal—and then judge people who do things differently. But assumptions can cause us to answer questions people are not asking, solve problems they do not recognize, and treat people like projects instead of people made in the image of God. In this episode, we talk about the difference between ethnocentric and ethnographic engagement and why missionary humility requires us to listen, observe, ask questions, and understand people in their actual context. Looking at Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4, we see that Jesus did not ignore cultural boundaries, but He also did not allow those boundaries to keep Him from offering living water. He engaged a real person, in a real place, with a real story—and that conversation eventually opened a door to an entire community. You will also learn four things disciple-makers should pay attention to in every context: people’s longings, losses, language, and lies, along with practical questions you can begin using immediately in the places you live, work, learn, and play. Key Line: Ethnography is not lowering truth; it is lowering ourselves long enough to understand the people we are called to love.  I Will Statement: This week, I will ask one person in my context a thoughtful question and listen without rushing to correct, fix, or teach.  Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  6. Sep 22

    When Outrage Takes Over How to Respond Like Jesus

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Take Off Podcast, Thomas Clark continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 4, “When Outrage Takes Over: How to Respond Like Jesus,” looks at what happens when anger, offense, frustration, or misunderstanding starts to control the way we respond to people. If Jesus is Lord, then He must also be Lord over our reactions. In this episode, we talk about how disciple-makers can slow down before reacting, listen before assuming, pursue peace without forcing it, handle conflict in a healthy way, and choose words that represent Jesus well. We also explore why people are not our real enemy, why we sometimes react to what we think someone meant instead of what they actually meant, and how listening carefully can help us stay faithful in the places we live, work, learn, and play. Key Line: Never let outrage decide your next step; let Jesus form your response before you act. I Will Statement: This week, I will identify one place where I am tempted to react in outrage, and I will ask Jesus to help me respond with wisdom, peace, and self-control.  Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  7. Sep 15

    The Power of Weakness Representing Jesus With Humility

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Take Off Podcast, Thomas Clark continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 3, “The Power of Weakness: Representing Jesus With Humility,” explores why disciple-makers do not need to dominate people in order to represent Jesus faithfully. In a culture where many people are suspicious of religious power, institutions, and leaders who claim to have all the answers, followers of Jesus must learn how to carry truth with humility, courage, and love. The Gospel is not weak. Jesus is not weak. The Kingdom is not weak. But God often chooses weakness as the vessel through which His power becomes visible. Looking at 2 Corinthians 4:7–10 and Philippians 2:5–8, this episode challenges disciple-makers to admit their limits, listen before correcting, repent where needed, serve without trying to control the outcome, and stay present with people in the places they live, work, learn, and play. Key Line: Weakness is not the absence of conviction; weakness is the refusal to use power in ways that do not look like Jesus. I Will Statement: This week, I will practice the power of weakness by listening honestly, admitting where needed, and representing Jesus without trying to control the outcome.  Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

  8. Sep 8

    Sharing Power Like Jesus: Leadership That Equips and Releases

    Send us Fan Mail The episode focuses on helping disciple-makers use influence, knowledge, titles, platforms, and authority to lower power distance so others can participate faithfully in the mission of God. Buzzsprout Description: In this episode of the Take Off Podcast, Thomas Clark continues Season 10: Power, Outrage, Culture, and the Gospel. Episode 2, “Sharing Power Like Jesus: Leadership That Equips and Releases,” challenges leaders, disciple-makers, pastors, parents, mentors, and mature followers of Jesus to think differently about power. If power is influence, then the question is not only whether we have power. The deeper question is: Are we using our influence to keep people dependent, or are we using it to equip people to obey Jesus? Looking at Matthew 20:25–28, John 13:14–15, Ephesians 4:11–12, 1 Peter 2:9, and Matthew 28:18–20, Thomas shows that Jesus did not use power to dominate, control, or keep people passive. Jesus used power to serve, equip, give life, and send His followers into the mission of God. This episode reminds us that the people do not belong to us. They belong to God. And because they belong to God, we must create room for ordinary followers of Jesus to pray, serve, share, disciple, facilitate, encourage, correct, witness, and participate in meaningful ministry where they live, work, learn, and play. Key Line: The goal of Kingdom leadership is not to make people need us more; it is to help people obey Jesus more. I Will Statement: This week, I will invite one person to participate in a meaningful act of ministry instead of doing it all myself. Support the show Take Off is a disciple-making podcast designed to equip everyday followers of Jesus to live missionally where they live, work, learn, and play. Supporters help sustain this work and receive short bonus reflections each week that go deeper into the themes of the episode—offering additional insight, pastoral encouragement, and formation-focused teaching. Supporting is not about buying content, but partnering in the slow, faithful work of making disciples who make disciples. https://www.facebook.com/bishopthomas.clark/ https://www.youtube.com/@taclark4 https://www.taclark4ministries.com/ https://x.com/TAClark4

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About

I help equip you to bring the peace of God to places you live, work, learn, and play. All for His glory! 

Information

  • Creator
    Thomas
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    69
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Take Off With Thomas Clark
  • Show Website
    Take Off With Thomas Clark