Sweet Friends,
December is a month when we review the amazing story God has allowed us to live by creating our family ministry, Whole Heart Ministries. Would you please join with us as we tell you our story. We are so grateful for all of you who have been a part o the history God has allowed our family to live. Thanks for reading about our history today. Hope to see so many of you at our Mom Heart Conferences this year. May God lead your family to live a story of faith!
It would mean so much to us if you would share with Clay and me a way you have been encouraged through our ministry, conferences or books. We love hearing from you.
Clay and me, Still dreaming by faith, together, about what the next 20 might hold!
The unfolding story of Whole Heart Ministries has been, so far, twenty-one incredible chapters of character development, narrative intrigue, and unexpected plotlines. It’s been a long story, but we’re not ready to write the final chapter. Not yet. Chapter 22, still to be written in 2016, includes a major plot twist that will turn the story in a new direction. And we hope you will continue to be a part of our story.
Hope many of you will join us at our last Mom Heart Conference this year. (Filling up fast!)
Here’s the twist: After twenty wonderful years of hotel conference ministries to mothers we’re saying, “The End!” The 2016 conferences will be the final year of the Mom Heart Conference. But note: It won’t be the final year of Sally speaking to moms. We may just have another conference concept up our sleeve, but at this point, we are praying about the best options of how we can reach more parents. Future events might be smaller and more personal, and more will be online, but Sally is not going away. We’re just slowing down now so we can focus on the heart of the Whole Heart story—writing, publishing, personal discipleship, and ministry training.
Since the beginning of the Whole Heart story in 1994, God has allowed us to encourage and equip countless Christian parents through workshops, book catalogs, hotel conferences, print books, ebooks, international ministry, online ministries, training Intensives, ministry to moms, and more. If it all stopped here, we’d be thankful for our story. But we believe there is still more story to be told.
The Continuing Story of Whole Heart
The heart of our ministry has always been simply to help Christian parents—to encourage and equip them to raise children who will serve God “with a whole heart and a willing mind” (1 Chr 28:9). In a day of seismic cultural change, we want to help families find their place in the grand story of God’s faithfulness to His people. If that is your heart, then we hope you will help us help parents.
Parents write us all the time to tell us their stories. It doesn’t matter if they are here in America or in another land with another language, the language of their parent hearts is always the same:
[Your books] totally changed the mother I am and the way we have decided to parent and disciple our son. We are SO thankful to the LORD for your ministry!
~ a mother in California As the days toil on life frequently becomes rote and lacking in spirit; but reading
Heartfelt Discipline I am refreshed and newly motivated to ensure I am in the Lord’s will. ~ a father in Idaho
“I long to be a mother who builds my children up in the Lord. I purchased Ministry and Mission of Motherhood which I am forever re-reading and have lent to many friends.”
~ a mother in Australia
Christian parents are our mission field. We are missionaries to the Christian home.
Sally’s books have been translated into numerous foreign languages, and our books and ministry reach families all around the world. Mothers are hungry for biblical perspective from a seasoned Titus 2 older woman. Fathers want sound, biblical insight for building a Christian home and raising godly children. Parents want the life of Christ in their family. This is the story God has entrusted to us to write and to tell.
Turning a New Page to a New Chapter of Whole Heart
Like the Apostle Paul, we too “press on toward the goal” (Phi 3:14) of fulfilling Christ’s call on our lives to strengthen families. We want to invest in ministry choices that will last, and that will enable us to last. We want to do what is strategic, not just what is comfortable. We want to leave a story worth reading. And we want to invite you to join us in writing it. Here’s where our story is headed in 2016:
- WHOLE HEART PRESS: We started Whole Heart Ministries with the vision of writing and publishing books to help Christian parents. That “ministry in print” will always be at the core of the Whole Heart mission as we write and publish new books for moms, dads, kids, families, and small groups.
- SALLYCLARKSON.COM: Sally’s personal blog reaches tens of thousands of Christian women and mothers every day with biblical encouragement and inspiration. As a bestselling author, she is a trusted and respected voice for the traditional vision and values of motherhood, home, and family.
- THE LIFEGIVING HOME: Sally’s newest book with Tyndale Momentum, The Lifegiving Home – Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming (Feb 2), is a portrait of how she built and beautified her own home and influenced her children. It will become a regular theme of Sally’s messages in 2016.
- AT HOME WITH SALLY: This spring, we hope to launch a new “At Home with Sally” subscription site filled with twenty years of Sally’s audio and video messages, and including exclusive access to new webinars and other online events by Sally. Join early and save. (Target launch date: Mother’s Day.)
- FAITH-SHAPED FAMILY INITIATIVE: This new Whole Heart initiative will call families back to building a biblical “Christian home.” The FaithShapedFamily.com blog will offer encouragement and ideas, a new book will define the vision, and other resources will equip parents. (Coming this summer.)
- MOM HEART MINISTRY INITIATIVE: Mom Heart Ministry is a strategic small groups initiative to “restore moms’ hearts to God’s heart for motherhood.” On MomHeart.com, moms can find training, resources, media, encouragement, and connections to be a part of this movement of mothers.
- MOM HEART INTENSIVES: Nearly fifty mothers attended the first three-day Mom Heart Leader Intensive Training in our home in 2010. Other “Intensives” have followed, and now more are planned in Colorado and around the world as Sally trains mothers to minister to mothers.
Let’s Write a Story Together Worth Reading!
We are, and always have been, just a small, family-run, nonprofit, Christian, faith ministry. All that means is that we trust God to provide financially as we step out in faith. There are two needs we’re trusting God to provide for right now, and in the months ahead. First, we need financial partners who will help us tell the story of God’s heart for the home and family. We need new partners to offset the loss of conference income that has funded our ministry for twenty years. Second, we need partners who will help us reach beyond our current limitations. We want to reach the Spanish-speaking world, expand our online ministry, and train mothers in other countries. A new fund-based online giving platform coming soon will enable us to set giving goals and receive funds dedicated to selected strategic projects.
Your financial gift in December would be greatly appreciated to help us move into 2016 financially healthy and amply supplied to write the story that God gives us. We encourage you to use our online donation page on WholeHeart.org. It is safe and secure, and will give you full control over your giving. You can also send a check to the address below. Financial contributions to Whole Heart Ministries, a 501c3 tax-exempt organization, are tax-deductible. Thank you for your partnership! Your gift helps us press on in Christ to keep faith in the family. Grace and peace to you and your family.
Wholehearted blessings in Christ,
Clay and Sally Clarkson
Our own whole hearted kids! Joy, Joel, Sarah, Nathan
If God puts it on your heart to become partners with us in our ministry to help us with more projects to reach our world, we would be most grateful. You can donate here. (http://wholeheart.org/donations/)
Books & Resources by the Clarksons
- Educating the WholeHearted Child (Clay)
- Seasons of a Mother’s Heart (Sally)
- Our 24 Family Ways (Clay)
- Journeys of Faithfulness (Sarah)
- Read for the Heart (Sarah)
- Heartfelt Discipline (Clay)
- The Mission of Motherhood (Sally)
- The Ministry of Motherhood (Sally)
- Dancing with My Father (Sally)
- The Mom Walk (Sally)
10 Gifts of Wisdom (Sally) Caught Up in a Story (Sarah) The Wisdom Chasers (Nathan) The Hero’s Way (Nathan) Desperate (Sally, Sarah Mae) You Are Loved (Sally, Angela Perritt) Own Your Life (Sally) Own Your Life Study Guide (Sally) The Lifegiving Home (Sally, Sarah) Taking Motherhood to Hearts (Clay)
Please feel free to write us at the address below.
Whole Heart Ministries
Keeping Faith in the Family
PO Box 3445 | Monument, CO 80132 719.488.4466 | 888.488.4466 | 888.FAX-2WHM
wholeheart.org | momheart.com | sallyclarkson.com whm@wholeheart.org | admin@wholeheart.org
— since 1994 —