Bishop Thomas Arthur Clark, IV was born on August 9, 1971 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Bishop Dr. Thomas A. Clark, Jr. and Elder Patricia O. Clark. In 1985, he graduated from Mars Hill School in Chicago as valedictorian of his eighth grade class. Thomas then attended and subsequently graduated from Chicago’s prestigious Albert G. Lane Technical High School. He accepted the call of God to preach the Gospel in August of 1988, while a member of Faith Deliverance Christian Center in Chicago, under his father’s pastorate.
In
1994, upon earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Advertising from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Thomas returned to Chicago and
became very active in the youth ministry of the church. He was appointed as
Youth Pastor in April, 1995. He has
attended numerous classes, seminars and workshops on Christian Education,
Church Development, and Leadership Development, to name a few. Through his
studies, Thomas has earned various certificates of completion as well as a
Christian Education Diploma. Additionally, upon graduating from college in
1994, he accepted a position in Account Management at Leo Burnett USA. In 1996,
he moved into the Legal Department of the agency. In 2009, the Legal Department
was transferred into Lion ReSources under the umbrella of Publicis Groupe, the
world’s third largest communications conglomerate. Thomas serves as Director, Advertising Clearance for this prestigious company.
In
February of 1998, Thomas was released to organize the first church he pastored:
Light of the World International. He served there until December, 2010. He was duly consecrated as a Bishop in 2004 while in the
Fellowship of Independent Churches and Global Ministries, Inc., where he served
as North Regional Bishop. In January of 2006, he, along with his father and
Bishop Sharon Garner, organized The Fellowship of Kingdom Builders where he
served as the First-Vice Presiding Bishop.
Thomas is currently the proud pastor
of World Deliverance Christian Center of Bellwood, IL, which God led him and his
father to organize in January of 2011, upon the merger of the churches they
were respectively pastoring. In 2012, The Fellowship of Kingdom Builders became
part of Faith
Tabernacle Outreach Ministries (FTOM) under the leadership of Bishop Dr.
Herbert Bright of Plainfield, NJ. In May of 2017,
Thomas was appointed as First-Vice Presiding Bishop of FTOM. In 2019, Thomas was
conferred and hooded with an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from St. Thomas
Christian University of Jacksonville, FL. He is currently studying to obtain a
Master’s in Missional Church Movements from the esteemed Wheaton College of
Wheaton, IL.
Thomas preaches and teaches with power and simplicity. His goal is to help empower disciples of Jesus to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. He is committed to building a disciple making movement and church planting movement that will reach every person in his people group and beyond with the peace of Jesus. He wants everyone to have an opportunity to live a Holy Spirit filled life, without limitations. This has led to speaking opportunities and mission work throughout the United States, the Dominican Republic, and multiple locations in South Africa. He believes that the Gospel forces a conflict and often says: “Every time we have an encounter with Jesus, we must make a decision. We will either decide for Him or against Him, but we will make a decision.” His first book, titled: Bloom Where God Has Planted You – It’s Time To Fulfill Your God-given Purpose was published in 2015, and is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers.
In the summer of 2021, noted missiologist, pastor, author, scholar, and global leader of 3DM, Mike Breen, said the following upon his review of work Thomas submitted, ‘Excellent work Thomas! You have the outstanding ability to interpret and integrate content in a theologically astute fashion! You seem to understand intuitively what I’ve been working on recently -namely the idea that the formation of a disciple includes the disciple maker extending their ontology to the disciple.’
Thomas is married to Lady Felicia Clark. They have a total of three children: Darius, Kyle and Nalisha Simone, and one very curious granddude, Darius, Jr. (aka DJ).
Thomas operates in the Gifts of the Spirit, is truly apostolic, and a passionate teacher of the Word of God.