Browse ⟩ Home ⟩ About Whole Heart

About Whole Heart

WHOLE HEART MINISTRIES

Since its birth in 1994, Whole Heart Ministries has been dedicated to helping Christian parents raise wholehearted children who will live for Christ. The Clarksons have served in full-time ministry since 1975, both as single adults and as a married couple, in overseas missions, discipleship ministries, and in church ministry. Whole Heart Ministries brings to full expression the convictions and messages they have cultivated and taught since the late 1980s.

MISSION

The mission of Whole Heart Ministries is “to encourage and equip Christian parents to raise wholehearted children who will serve Christ and His kingdom.” Whole Heart Ministries helps Christian parents and their children worldwide through ministries of speaking, teaching, training, writing, and publishing that focus on the biblical and practical aspects of home nurture, home discipleship, and home education. Our ultimate objective is to come alongside Christian parents to help them prepare their children to become Christian leaders in the next generation.

MINISTRIES

Whole Heart Events

WholeHearted Child Home Education Workshop
Mom Heart Conference
Mom Heart Mominar

Whole Heart Press

Educating the WholeHearted Child, by Clay Clarkson *
Our 24 Family Ways, by Clay Clarkson
Seasons of a Mother’s Heart, by Sally Clarkson *
Journeys of Faithfulness, by Sarah Clarkson
Just David (Clay Clarkson, ed.)
The Gold Thread (Clay Clarkson, ed.)
Read for the Heart, by Sarah Clarkson *
Heartfelt Discipline, by Clay Clarkson (Summer 2010)
The Mom Walk, by Sally Clarkson (Fall 2010)
Speaking and Conference Audio & Video
(* Apologia/WholeHeart imprint)

Whole Heart Media

Audio messages by Sally Clarkson, 1996-present
Video messages by Sally Clarkson, 2009-present

Whole Heart Online

Whole Heart Online website & blog (wholeheart.org)
I Take Joy blog (itakejoy.com), Sally
Read for the Heart blog (readfortheheart.com), Sarah
Disciplinology blog (disciplinology.com), Clay

Mom Heart Ministry

Mom Heart Online website & blog (momheart.org)
Mom Heart Mom-e-Letter
Mom Heart Mom-e-Zine

ORGANIZATION

Whole Heart Ministries is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt religious organization. We operate under the authority of a Board of Directors made up of godly men and women committed to the ministry and mission of WHM. Financial information is available upon request. We are Christ-centered, conservative, and evangelical in our doctrinal beliefs and ministry practices. Ministry is done by people, not by an organization, so we encourage you to think of us in terms of “who we are” as much as you do in terms of “what we do.”

Personnel 

Clay Clarkson — Clay, the full-time Executive Director of WHM, accepted Christ at a Campus Crusade for Christ event at the University of Texas and joined the staff of the ministry upon graduation in 1975. After leaving staff to pursue a music ministry for several years, he began studies at Denver Seminary in 1981. His 6-year friendship with Sally, who had been assigned to Denver at the same time, became a lifelong commitment of marriage on August 30, 1981. For the first 12 years of marriage, Clay ministered as a worship leader, single adults pastor, and adult ministries pastor with churches in Austria, California, and Tennessee. He moved back to Texas in 1993 to begin Whole Heart Ministries in an old farmhouse on family property in central Texas. In the spring of 1999, Clay was able to move his family back to Colorado, where their life as a family began. Clay is first of all a writer and teacher, but also enjoys songwriting and acoustic guitar, acoustic artists, old books, Sally’s baking, strong English tea, and DDP.

Sally Clarkson — Sally is, first and foremost, a full-time, stay-at-home-schooling mom. Her life has always revolved around her four wholehearted children-Sarah, Joel, Nathan and Joy. In addition to her ministry to her family, God has also given her a ministry to other families, and to homeschooling mothers, through speaking and writing. Sally grew up in Texas and New Mexico, accepted Christ personally her freshman year at Texas Tech University, was active with Campus Crusade for Christ during college, and joined staff upon graduation in 1975. She ministered at the University of Texas, lived and ministered in Eastern Europe under Communist rule, and returned to Denver to work with executive women and singles, and with Clay, whom she married a year later. She has always been active in discipling women, and began a church-based homeschool support group in Nashville that is still active. Sally is a writer, speaker, discipler, and blogger (itakejoy.com) who also loves books, music, British films, baking, and tea.

The Clarkson Children — Sarah (May 21, 1984) is on staff with WHM assisting with editing, website management, and research. She is writer and blogger (storyformed.com and thoroughlyalive.com), a lover of beauty, and collector of classic books.. Joel (November 19, 1986) is studying composition and film scoring at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He is a self-taught guitarist and pianist, and has released two CDs of his original songs. Nathan (April 19, 1989) is pursuing a career in the film industry after attending New York Film Academy. He is a self-taught musician and writer, serving on the worship team at his church. Joy (May 26, 1995) is homeschooling, and is interested in musical theatre, drama, and performance. She is an aspiring pianist, songwriter, and singer, and would love to direct.

Jennice Jones — Jennice became the Administrative Assistant, Office Manager, Bookkeeper, and Receptionist at Whole Heart Ministries in 1995. She is a homeschooling single mother of her 13 year-old son, Creston, who also helps in the office. Jennice has four other grown children, three of them adopted. Her’s is the voice you hear when you call our office.

Board of Directors 

Gary and Lynn Custer — Gary and Lynn have been close friends since our days in church ministry together in Nashville, TN beginning in 1991.  They live near Raleigh, NC where Gary is an executive with a national restaurant chain. The have two grown boys, both homeschooled through High School.

Chad and Wendy Macy — Chad and Wendy have helped with our Texas events for many years. They live in Georgetown, TX where Chad is an executive with a national staffing firm. They are homeschooling their two young teen girls.

Statement of Faith 

Whole Heart Ministries subscribes to the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE):

  • We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
  • We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
  • We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
  • We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
  • We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
  • We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Historical Timeline of Whole Heart Ministries

1988-1991 — CA: Began homeschooling Sarah. Began speaking on homeschooling and motherhood. Seeds of future ministry first sprouted here.
1992 — TN: First, there was Family Faith Ministries workshops
1993 — TN/TX: Our first giant step of faith, selling our home and moving to the country in Texas to wait on God.
1994 — TX: Whole Heart Ministries is birthed with our first WholeHearted Child Home Education Workshop with 30 people in our home. Educating the Whole Hearted Child is released in September.
1995 — TX: Released our first Whole Heart Catalog  (seven more to follow). Began to take the WHChild Workshop on the road to other states. Published four quarterly issues of ”The WholeHearted Mother Journal,” but it gave birth to the conference and a targeted ministry to mothers.
1996 — TX: First version (the flipchart) of Our 24 Family Ways released. Educating the WholeHearted Child, 2nd Edition released. WholeHearted Mother Workshop draws 120 mothers to our small Fort Worth, TX church.
1997 — TX: A WHChild Seminar draws 500 to a church in Dallas (with the Quines and the Andreolas).
1998 — TX: Sally wrote and released the first edition of Seasons of a Mother’s Heart, an immediate hit with moms. Held the first WholeHearted Mother Conference at the Green Oaks in Fort Worth, selling out by word of mouth with attendance of 650.
1999 — TX/CO: Moved the WholeHearted Mother Conference to The Harvey Hotel, with 950 mothers in attendance (guest: Jean Fleming). First conference in IN. Moved to Colorado that spring. Spoke in Hungary at SHARE.
2000 — CO: In addition to the TX event, we had our first out-of-state WholeHearted Mother Conference in CA (guest: Linda Dillow). Spoke in US and Canada.
2001 — CO: Signed book contracts with WaterBrook Press. Conferences in TX, CA, CO, NC. Launched Whole Heart Online website.
2002 — CO/TN: Journeys of Faithfulness released, written by Sarah at 16. Just David and The Gold Thread released. Conferences in TX, KY. Sold the house, moved to TN.
2003 — TN: Conference in TX. Sally spoke to Congressional wives and mothers, and staff women in the Capitol in DC. Mission or Motherhood and Heartfelt Discipline (WaterBrook) released.
2004 — TN/CO: Conferences in CA, TX (2), IN. Returned to Colorado. Launched email newsletters. Ministry of Motherhood (WaterBrook) released.
2005 — CO: Announced we would no longer be doing WHMother Conferences after the CA and TX events. Plan to move out of hotel events to church events.
2006 — CO: Sabbatical from conferences. Working on new books. Sally speaks in Australia and New Zealand for three weeks.
2007 — CO: Revived the WHMother Conferences in CO, GA, CA, and TX. Sally speaks in UAE, Macedonia, and Hungary for three weeks. The Mom Walk (Harvest House) released.
2008 — CO: WHMother Conferences CO, CA, and TX. Seasons of a Mother’s Heart, 2nd Ed. (WH Press) released.
2009 — CO: WHMother Conferences in CA, NC (twice), and TX. Sally speaks in six cities in China for nearly three weeks for release of Mission of Motherhood translation in Chinese. Read for the Heart and Seasons of a Mother’s Heart, 2nd Ed. (Apologia/WholeHeart) released.
2010 — CO: Our first official Mom Heart Conferences in CO, CA, TX, and NC. Our 24 Family Ways 2010 (WH Press) and  Read for the Heart (Apologia/WholeHeart) released.
And…eight years of Whole Heart Catalogs; six years of Whole Heart Letters; dozens more WholeHearted Child Workshops; speaking for homeschooling conventions; mission trips; writing a regular column for Practical Homeschooling Magazine; and much more. And…the story is yet to be written for the next ten years, and beyond.