A moment of your time, please?

I KNOW YOUR TIME IS VERY VALUABLE, AND SO HUMBLY ASK, AND I WOULD SO APPRECIATE IT IF THOSE OF YOU WHO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LETTER WOULD TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO READ ABOUT THE DREAMS AND WAYS GOD IS WORKING TO REACH FAMILIES ALL OVER THE WORLD!  Many of you know that Clay and I started our ministry, Whole Heart Ministries, almost 20 years ago, by faith. Our hearts were to inspire, train and Biblically educate parents how to build a godly home, and to help give instruction and materials and encouragement to help families complete this task.

Understanding that when marriages and Biblical vision was strong, families would be strong. When Mothers and Fathers undertand the foundational call to build a godly legacy in their own homes, righteousness will be passed down from generation. When righteousness prevails, nations will be strong, and families, cities and nations will flourish.

However, when families are falling apart and broken and marriages end, and children souls are not built, cities will lack righteousness and nations will become corrupt. A nation is only as strong as the families that make up that nation. And so the needs have grown and we are more serious and committed than ever to see what God would have us do to build a message in these areas.

We have been amazed at how the Lord has worked, as we stepped out in faith and began to work.  We lived almost 5 years without a regular salary, and began to write. By God's grace, we have written over ten books, have our books in 6 languages, have hosted mom's conferences for 13 years, and spoken all over the world, and had the opportunity to train leaders, produce training and encouragement over the internet, and work with many people in many countries.

As Clay and I ponder, Lord, in the next 10 years, how can we do more to help families and to strengthen them so that they might build godly generations? We are so excited to see what the Lord is doing as our vision is growing and we see many people coming on board to help us in this task.

And so, I interrupt my blog schedule to pass on the heart of our ministry, and to share our dreams with you, our readers. Would you mind taking a minute to read our end of the year letter and let us know what you think, and keep us in your prayers. We are most grateful for all of you who have helped our ministry grow and who have served, reached out and ministered to so many thousands all over the world. Please know that we cannot continue to move ahead without you, our precious and cherished friends! BELOW IS OUR END OF YEAR LETTER. THANKS SO VERY MUCH FOR TAKING TIME TO READ IT--IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!

The letter below was sent out recently to our limited physical mailing list ("snail mail"). We are also sending it to our full email list for those who do not receive our mailings but might be interested in knowing more about or supporting this ministry. Thank you for reading. December 27, 2011 Re: Where We Are, Where We're Going in 2012, and How You Can Be a Part Dear Friends of Whole Heart, We hope your Advent and Christmas season in your home has been full of grace, peace, and joy in Christ. It seems fitting, but also humbling, that the time of year when we remember the birth of the one who humbly came to meet all our needs, is also the time of year when we typically share our needs as a ministry. Christmas keeps our needs in perspective! That’s why we’re humbled to look back and to thank God for all the generous friends of Whole Heart who are the real reason we have come this far. What we have envisioned for so long is finally in the process of being birthed. We can see it beginning to happen. However, we can also see that we are still short of the resources we will need to see it through. We’re long on vision, but short on resources. So we come to you as we near the end of 2011, humbly and joyfully, with a vision for ministry that God will not let us let go. In a way, we are simply continuing the ministry that began with the Messiah in a manger—offering light, life, hope, and joy in Jesus to families and mothers around the world. Would you prayerfully consider a financial gift at this time to help us press on in 2012 with this ministry? One Generation Behind Us…Many More Yet to Come For eighteen years we have pursued a single ministry purpose—to help Christian parents raise wholehearted children for Christ. The culture in which we all live and minister has changed radically since 1994, but our vision to strengthen families and build Christian homes has stayed the same. Yet we know that how we accomplish our vision for ministry must change if we are to continue to be fruitful. By modern demographic standards, eighteen years is one generation. We’ve given our hearts to be effective in this ministry for a full generation now. But that’s not enough. We are committed to adjusting to cultural change in our generation so we can continue to change culture for Christ in generations to come. We want to complete the task God has given us to do. After 35+ years of ministry, we know realizing that goal will take three critical components: vision, commitment, and resources. We have clear vision—we know what God has called us to do. We are fully committed—we will pursue that vision for as long as God allows and enables us to do so. But, we need resources—we are a faith ministry, which means that we trust God for our needs. We need your financial support. Pressing On in 2012 with Vision and Commitment Every aspect of our ministry—publishing, conferences, communications, media, sales, teaching, training—is being affected by cultural change, but we are pressing on in 2012. By faith, we have hired two new part-time staff members to help us move forward. Our new Whole Heart Ministry Assistant is helping with office-centered computers and technology, and developing blogs, audio, video, ecommerce, and more. Our new Mom Heart Ministry Assistant will work with Sally and a Mom Heart Leader Team to oversee development of Mom Heart online ministries, social media, online conferences, and more. We are thankful for the gifts that enabled us to hire for these critical staff positions, but now we are trusting God to bless their invaluable contributions to the ministry and secure their involvement for the rest of 2012. Here's where we're headed: Whole Heart Ministries is ready to move strongly into digital publishing. We will still publish books in print format, but we will also expand aggressively into e-books so we can reach the digital and connected generation. We will continue to expand Whole Heart Online to provide a digital platform to reach the world with an improved and expanded Whole Heart Store, a blog for wholehearted parents, additional resources and downloads, and much more. Apologia Press will publish our homeschooling titles, and Whole Heart Press will publish our biblical, faith-building resources for Christian families. Mom Heart Ministry is our next-generation small groups ministry initiative to help restore moms’ hearts to God’s heart for motherhood. Our plans for the Mom Heart Online website include a database to see where Mom Heart Groups are meeting, video training for group leaders, downloadable small groups resources, and a forum for group leaders. The Mom Heart blog will provide daily insights and inspiration for biblical motherhood from a community of mom-hearted mom-bloggers. Mom Heart Conferences will continue to encourage and inspire women to be mothers after God’s heart. Sally will continue her ITakeJoy blog for Christian women, write new books on motherhood and Christian living, and move into writing e-books for digital distribution. We hope to expand Mom Heart internationally. We can see it all. We just need your help to see it happen. Pressing On in Faith…with Your Help As we near the end of another year, we are asking God again for new Whole Heart Partners to help us move forward into the new year. We are grateful to those who have given, and continue to give, to this ministry. If you can help Whole Heart Ministries financially at this time, you can donate by check to the address below, call our offices to donate by credit card or check draft, or donate online at www.wholeheart.org/donate. All gifts are fully tax-deductible and will be acknowledged with a receipt and an appreciative "Thank you." We are so thankful to God for our Whole Heart partners in this ministry. In whatever way you are able to give or pray, you are an encouragement to us. Thank you for sharing our heart for Christian parents. Grace, peace, and joy in Christ to you and your family. Wholehearted blessings in Christ, Clay & Sally Clarkson Click below to donate now online: DONATE NOW ONLINE Our ministry mailing address is: Whole Heart Ministries P.O. Box 3445 Monument, CO 80132 You can call us at: 888-488-4466 You can send us an email here: http://www.wholeheart.org/contact-whole-heart/ Thank you!