Volunteer Profile: The Whitmire Family

The Whitmire family has lived in Cherokee County for more than 30 years. Jeff and Mona Whitmire met in high school almost 40 years ago and were married three years after they graduated. The Lord has blessed them with 14 children and 10 grandchildren.

Many years ago, Jeff began working for a small startup company in Atlanta that grew into one of the world’s largest and most successful big box retailers. He retired from that company 17 years ago. As his older children approached their late teens, Jeff and his wife realized that he didn’t have a close relationship with them. After much prayer, they decided he should walk away from his very successful career.

“We realized that we didn’t want to lose our family, and I wanted a much deeper relationship with my children and my wife. I wanted to have their hearts and know their hearts. We figured we’d rather lose everything we owned instead of our relationship with our children and each other,” Jeff said.

The Whitmires and two other longtime Cherokee County families had previously founded a church that was a blessing for many families. Out of that church, the Whitmires started Restoring Faith Church where Jeff served as an elder/shepherd and was the preaching elder for 11 years.

Once Jeff retired, the couple’s personal ministry began to expand. The Whitmires have always had a heart for families, marriage, and children. Over the years, they’ve led courses on topics such as marriage, raising children, and how to be a better husband and father. In addition to their work in building stronger families, Jeff and Mona have been involved in initiatives that help people who are struggling with other issues.

At one point, Jeff was asked by lots of twentysomethings why pastors never spend much time preaching on marriage, especially since there seemed to be many couples struggling, and divorce rates are high. These young adults wanted to learn how to start off on the right foot.

“I agreed to do a short series on marriage for them. That short series turned into 53 weeks of sermons on marriage, which helped solidify a core part of my and Mona’s ministry as a couple and as a family going forward,” said Jeff.

The Whitmires also started a consulting business to minister to other businesses and help support their large family.

“We felt like I had been richly blessed with tremendous knowledge, experience, and mentors while I was in corporate America. I love small businesses and entrepreneurs. I wanted to give back and help serve them in any way I could. I wanted them to have the opportunity to succeed. It also gave us an opportunity to minister to business owners.”

Today, the Whitmire family continues to grow. Their adult children have built successful businesses and amazing careers. They are all involved in one form of ministry or another. Jeff and Mona are working on a few books about marriage and other family topics as well as online content they hope to launch in 2023.

When asked if they would do it again, Jeff said, “Yes, in a heartbeat. There is no career worth family in my mind. We have the hearts of our children and they have ours. Our children are our best friends in the world. We are a close family and getting closer. We are so grateful that our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ has been with us the whole way. We have had times of plenty and times where we did not know if we would make it, but God has always come through — no matter what the need was. We are so grateful he led us in this direction 17 years ago.”