A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
I’m a 70-something husband of one, father of four, and follower of Jesus. I’m a writer, published and self-published author, editor, publisher, acoustic guitarist, and songwriter. I’m proudly INTJ. Sally and I were married August 30, 1981. After Denver Seminary (MDiv, 1985) I worked with churches in Vienna (Austria), So Cal, Nashville, and Colorado Springs. We started Whole Heart Ministries in 1994 in an 80-year-old farmhouse in rural central Texas. Since 1999, our ministry headquarters have been in Monument, Colorado. As Executive Director, I’m responsible for administration, publishing, and online ministries oversight. My creative ministry tasks include writing, book concept and design for Whole Heart Press, designing ministry websites, and overseeing Whole Heart ministry initiatives. My books include Educating the WholeHearted Child, Our 24 Family Ways, Heartfelt Discipline, The Lifegiving Parent, and Giving Your Words. Sally and I home educated each of our four very different children through high school using our WholeHearted Learning model. It is a delight to see them all following God into their own ministries and messages as authors, creators, and thinkers in their respective arenas of influence. We’ve lived in nineteen homes, in ten cities, in four states, and in three countries, but our official family home since 2004 has been in Monument, CO, near Colorado Springs, in the shadow of Pikes Peak. Home is where the Whole Heart is.
AND ABOUT THE CLARKSON FAMILY
As of 2024, the Clarkson family is now Sally and me in CO; Sarah and Thomas in the UK, with Lilian, Samuel, Lucie, and Elanor; Joel in the UK; Nathan and Keelia in CA; and Joy and King in Scotland. We are a close family and always enjoy being together whenever we can make it happen, although as you can imagine that has become more difficult with adult children. As a couple, we were in and out of Oxford, UK from Feb 2018 until Nov 2023, but are now we are resituated back in our home in Monument, CO. To learn more about all the Clarksons—books, music, films, podcasts, studies, ministries, and more—visit our family website at ClarksonFamily.com.
WHERE TO FIND ME ONLINE
QUOTES I LIKE
If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.
~Yogi Berra
A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.
~G.K. Chesterton
Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.
~C.S. Lewis
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
~Benjamin Franklin
There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.
~G.K. Chesterton
Creativity is intelligence having fun.
~Albert Einstein
We were given the Scriptures to humble us into realizing that God is right, and the rest of us are just guessing.
~ Rich Mullins
SCRIPTURES I LIKE
The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
~Solomon
The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.
~Jesus
The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
~Paul
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
~Paul
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
~John
WEBSITES I LIKE
AnselmSociety.com
BibleGateway.com
BlueLetterBible.org
ChristianityToday.com
Discovery.org
HumansOfNewYork.com
JoelClarkson.com
JoyClarkson.com
MalcolmGuite.com
NathanClarkson.me
RabbitRoom.com
Reasons.org
ReKnew.org
SallyClarkson.com
SarahClarkson.com
Storyformed.com
StoryWarren.com
Truity.com
WholeHeart.org
AUTHORS I LIKE
Gregory A. Boyd
G. K. Chesterton
Andy Crouch
Annie Dillard
Leif Enger
Peter Enns
Malcolm Guite
Madeleine L'Engle
C. S. Lewis
Scot McKnight
Roger E. Olson
Eugene Peterson
J. R. R. Tolkien
John H. Walton
Ben Witherington
N. T. Wright
Brian Zahnd
MUSICIANS I LIKE
Acoustic Eidolon
Caedmon’s Call
Carolyn Arends
Bob Bennett
Moya Brennan
Michael Card
Matthew Clark
Joel Clarkson
William Coulter
Jim Fyhrie
Nathan Clark George
Keith & Kristyn Getty
Amy Grant
Jason Gray
Buddy Greene
Sara Groves
Andy Gullahorn
Steve Hindalong
Tom Howard
Alison Krause
Loreena McKennitt
Rich Mullins
Bebo Norman
Fernando Ortega
Twila Paris
Andrew Peterson
Jill Phillips
Kate Rusby
Paul Simon
John Michael Talbot
James Taylor
The Wailin Jennys
ARTISTS I LIKE
Jonathan Blocher (US, Manuscriptures, calligraphy)
Breezy Brookshire (US, Breezy Tulip Studio, illustration)
Hudson River School artists (US, 1825 ff)
Impressionist artists (France, 1860 ff)
Claude Monet (France, 1840-1926)
Rien Portvliet (Netherlands, 1932-1995, nature)
Beatrix Potter (England, 1866-1943, fables)
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists (England, 1848)
Arthur Rackham (England, 1867-1939, illustration)
Norman Rockwell (US, 1894-1978, illustration)
Jessie Willcox Smith (US, 1863-1935, illustration)
Brandon Stanton (US, Humans of NY, photography)
Rose Strang (Scotland, impressionist)
Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands, 1853-1890, impressionism)
N. C. Wyeth (US, 1882-1945, illustration)