Dear Friends of Whole Heart,
Sally & Clay Clarkson
As we enter our fourth decade of ministry with Whole Heart, we’re reminded of the wisdom of Peanuts philosopher Charles M. Schulz: “Just remember, once you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.” True that! But we hear in the sage advice of Charlie Brown’s artist father two helpful perspectives for our lives: First, it’s good to look back and remember the hill you’ve climbed to get to where you are; and second, life doesn’t slow down when you’re over that hill. As we “pick up speed” on this side of the hill, we’re finding that we’re just getting going—we still have ministry to do. Or, in the spirit of the metaphor, we’re still running our race and not looking for an easy way down the mountain. But it helps to look back at from where we’ve come.
Thirty years ago, about this time, we were one year into our climb up the mountain of this ministry. From an 80-year-old ramshackle farmhouse in rural Texas, our “international headquarters” for the newly minted Whole Heart Ministries, we cut a path up the hill—published our first book; created a very analog Whole Heart Catalog for mail order children’s books; started building a pre-internet era mailing list; offered WholeHearted Child Workshops. Nothing we did was very impressive by the world’s metrics, and yet everything we did that first year would become the seeds of our primary future ministry priorities for the next thirty years—writing and publishing books and resources to help parents around the world; teaching parents in church workshops; offering 65 hotel conferences over 20 years to encourage moms’ hearts; reaching countless women through nearly 18 years of blogs and 10 years of podcasts; growing the Life with Sally online community; being a global champion of biblical motherhood and discipleship.
Back in our first year, you might have heard us quoting from Zechariah about not despising the “day of small things” (4:10), or from Luke about being “faithful in a very little thing” (16:10). Now, after the years of being faithful in small things, we’re still being faithful to the work God has entrusted to us for over three decades. Whether it is big or small ministry, our hearts still beat with a passion to do all we can in the time we have to make a difference for Christ and his kingdom. And we’re grateful for the companionship of so many faithful supporters like you.
What We’ll Remember About 2025 – A Year of Thinking Ahead
Before taking on a big run, every runner knows they first need to get the right gear, stretch, and do some warmups. Otherwise, they might find themselves unexpectedly sitting on the side of the road. In many ways, 2025 for us was a year of getting ready for what’s ahead. We want to be sure we stay on our spiritual feet, so we did more than our usual amount of ministry prep—envisioning, planning, evaluating, researching, meeting. In addition to the prep, though, ministry never slowed down—speaking at multiple events, connecting directly with women on Life with Sally membership, discipling young moms, developing new ministry in the UK, working on new books for Whole Heart Press, moving forward with ministry to families and women. And, beyond all that, just keeping the admin wheels on the ministry bus, with the help of our remote ministry staff (but without in-office staff), is a task that never stops. Life goes on and so do we.
What We’re Thinking About 2026 – Faithfully “Picking Up Speed”
There will be a time when we reach the bottom of the hill—our run will be done and we’ll rest in the joy of knowing we’ve given our best in this life for Christ. But we’re not there yet! We hear Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian believers: “Run [your race] in such a way that you may win” (1 Cor 9:24). We’ll do that simply by doing what we’ve done for over thirty years: giving help and hope to the hearts of Christian parents. Sally’s ministries are still the heartbeat of Whole Heart—her podcasts downloaded 30 million times; her books with 5-star ratings and hundreds of reviews on Amazon; her Life with Sally online community. Clay continues to minister as the Director of Whole Heart Ministries, the Publisher of Whole Heart Press, and an author and maker of books. So, as we start our run into 2026, here’s how our hearts still beat with a desire to prepare the hearts of parents and children and to strengthen Christian families.
Sally Clarkson Ministry — For thirty-something years, Sally has influenced countless Christian women and parents through events, books, blogs, community, videos, and podcasts. With major book contracts behind her, she is now considering new digital discipleship possibilities—an online course for women; devotional resources; online audio and video engagement; and possibly even a destination event (stay tuned). She and her team are praying and actively planning how to revive Mom Heart Ministry in the year ahead to encourage a new generation of young mothers—starting Mom Heart Groups in the US and around the world; working closely with a trusted leader in London to help develop Mum Heart Ministry UK; releasing Mission of Motherhood in Spanish in the US and Latin America.
LifewithSally.com — Sally’s lifegiving membership website, now in its ninth year, has become a welcome refuge for women looking for faith-centered community and encouragement. Her LWS team is currently in the process of updating the current site and beginning to plan ahead for Life with Sally 3.0—a better iteration of the LWS experience. It will be a slow process to get to the next level, but the team is all-virtual-hands-on-deck to get there. Until then, Life with Sally will continue to provide the same uniquely personal and lifegiving engagement with Sally through Bible study, personal encouragement, spiritual resources, and much more.
Whole Heart Press — Writing and publishing books and resources for Christian families has been a key mission of Whole Heart Ministries from its beginning in 1994. As Publisher of Whole Heart Press, Clay will continue to grow its current catalog of ten books and five imprints, and especially Everstory Books, our new imaginal literature imprint. New releases in 2026 will include Tea Is for Time, our first full-color children’s picture book; Giving Your Words, 2nd edition; How Will This Be, our first biblical fiction title; La Misión de la Maternidad, our first Spanish language title; public domain reprints; and more. A standalone website for Whole Heart Press will launch in 2026 so we can “press on” with Whole Heart Press.
Whole Heart Online — WholeHeart.org, our ministry website, will continue to focus on defining our six strategic ministry initiatives: Sally Clarkson Ministry; Mom Heart Ministry; Lifegiving Family Project; Family Faith Project; Storied Heart Project; and WholeHearted Learning. You can also find links for all our Whole Heart Press books, and for Clarkson family books by other publishers, as well as faith-building resources for your family. We will continue adding new PDF resources as free digital downloads (wholeheart.org/pdf-downloads). WholeHeart.org is our corporate presence online as a ministry and as a family.
Will You Join Us as We Run Our Race in 2026?
Whole Heart Ministries is a faith ministry. We believe that God provides for our needs as we faithfully minister in Christ’s name. We trust God for faithful friends like you who will share our hearts for “keeping faith in the family” and will join us on this journey of ministry. When that happens, we consider it a ministry partnership. It’s all about all of us working together as partners to leave behind a godly legacy for future generations—changed lives and life-changing books and resources that will continue to strengthen Christian parents, children, and families long beyond our own brief lifetimes (see Psalm 78:1-8). If God puts it on your heart to be a part of this ministry as a Whole Heart Partner, we want to make that easy and uncomplicated.
Your kind gift of any kind by December 31 will help us keep helping families in 2026. If you can partner with us financially, simply donate safely and securely on our online donation page (wholeheart.org/donate). If you prefer to donate by check, send it to the address below. Your envelope must be postmarked by December 31 to receive a donation receipt for the 2025 tax year. Whole Heart Ministries is a 501(c)(3) federally tax-exempt religious organization.
Thank you for partnering with Whole Heart! Your generous gift will help to enable several strategic aspects of this ministry—staff to help expand and enrich core ministry initiatives; research, editorial, and design assistance for writing and publishing new books and resources; funding for key employees and remote contract workers; funding to help update our online presence and international reach. Thank you for investing in Whole Heart Ministries and in Christian families! Grace and peace to you and your family.
Wholehearted blessings in Christ,
Clay and Sally Clarkson
Whole Heart Ministries
PO Box 3445 | Monument, CO 880132
admin@wholeheart.org