Kate McRae

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

On Monday, June 29, 2009 I received a phone call from Aaron McRae, a friend of mine that I work with at Cornerstone Chandler. His daughter Kate, who was 5 years old at the time, had just been admitted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital and been diagnosed with brain cancer. It’s so bizarre to think that just the night before their kids were over so Holly and Aaron could go out on a date. Kate and my daughter Kennedy were set to begin Kindergarten together in the fall…man, how everything can change with a simple phone call. Together we drove to the hospital, and I tried to make small talk to keep his mind off of what we were about to walk into. We soon would find out the road that was in front of the McRae family. For the past 10 months Kate and her family have battled through an experimental treatment plan that has included brain surgery, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, stem cell transplant therapy (her own cells), and now radiation in Houston. I’ve been honored to walk each step of the way with my friends as they’ve continued to live this moment in an absolute Christ like fashion. I’ve wondered if I’d respond as well if the moment were mine… For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kate’s story you can follow along here.

On May the 4th at 6:30pm my wife is hosting a Pampered Chef Party in honor of the McRae family. The Pampered Chef Rep for the party, Trudy Maples, has donated 100% of her commission to the McRae family and the Hostess benefits are being donated to Holly McRae to allow her to order much needed supplies for her kitchen. Thankfully the McRae family has been receiving meals cooked by others since July of 2009. However, Holly has mentioned that she is looking forward to cooking again for the family once they return from treatment in Houston and getting back to some sense of normalcy.

If this is something that you would like to participate in you can order online here. Just make sure that when you are placing an order that you type in Lisa Alexander as the host so that the McRae’s will receive the benefits! While many have contributed in various ways to bless Kate over the past year, this is something that we can do together to bless Holly.

Posted in Family, Spiritual Formation

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What we can learn from crisis

Monday, April 26, 2010

This past weekend I was sitting in a line of traffic waiting for a train to pass, innocently counting the cars on the train when WHAM!!! Once I gathered my wits about me I realized that I had just been hit. I pulled off to the side of the road and the gentleman in the giant tank of a brand new Tahoe that just plowed into me came up to check on me (very polite of him). Later that day the insurance adjuster made it over to the auto shop that the truck had been towed to and what we had speculated about became reality. He told me that it was totaled. He said that the vehicle did exactly what it was designed to do in a moment like that, protect the driver and passengers by absorbing the shock of the impact. With a speed limit of 45mph, and no skid marks, the back of my truck crinkled up like used wrapping paper from my daughters’ 5th birthday party which happened later that evening. It’s interesting to me that they design vehicles these days to absorb the shock of the impact of an accident, and fortunately for me they do.

That statement the insurance adjuster made, that I was lucky the truck did what it was designed to do in the accident made me think, among other things, about crisis. Specifically that you and I can learn a lot about ourselves, the people around us, and the organizations that we lead in a moment of crisis. Here are a couple of thoughts that may help.

Posted in Family, Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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the ultimate discipline checklist

Thursday, April 15, 2010

One of the most difficult challenges and hotly contested issues when it comes to parenting is discipline. I mean people get radically passionate when it comes to their favorite method of discipline. And I get being passionate about your kids, trust me, I’m drop dead crazy about the three God has entrusted to me. But I’ve got to be honest and admit that it’s almost comical how people turn into zealots when this topic comes up, especially in “Church-World.” In my opinion effective discipline is just not as complicated as we’ve made it. Effective discipline has far more to do with consistency, follow through, and planning than anything else. Do the actual methods, style, and attitude matter? Sure they do. But not nearly as much as consistency, follow through, and planning. Without turning this into a 5 part post or a book to prove my point, let me just share one small quote here with you.

Posted in Family

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a family roadmap resource

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

As a follow up to yesterday’s post about building a family road map, I want to share with you a great resource that you are probably going to want to get your hands on. Joe and Aime McGinnis, the authors of “The Family Road Map,” have been dear friends for the past 9 years. We’ve seen these guys up close and personal on multiple family vacations, late nights playing cards and Settlers of Catan, serving together for 5 years at a mega-church in the Midwest, and co-teaching parenting courses. I can tell you first hand that they are the real deal. The tools you’ll find in “The Family Road Map” are born out of real life stuff and will help you build a plan to help you get where God wants your children to be.

Many parents want to lead their children on a spiritual journey, but they just don’t know how. “The Family Road Map” answers the question, “But how?” This workbook is designed to be a step-by-step guide for parents in planning the purpose and direction of their family. “The Family Road Map” will guide parents through creating a family purpose statement, establishing family values, identifying key mile-markers for their children, and thoroughly evaluating the yearly personal growth of each of their children. “The Family Road Map” will serve as a guide for parents in raising their children to become all that God wants them to be.

Get a free look inside the Family Road Map

Get your own copy of The Family Road Map

Posted in Family, Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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building a family roadmap

Monday, April 12, 2010

A few months ago I had the opportunity to spend a week in San Diego with some Executive Pastors who serve in large Churches from all across America in a round table conversation about life and ministry. As we built the agenda for our conversation a request came from the room down the hall where many of our wives were meeting, “Would you please discuss coming up with a better plan to minister to your family while ministering to the Church?” A fair request, but in a room full of driving, get it done guys who have a tendency to be addicted to progress it quickly became a sobering conversation.

The concern that arose in that room is the classic case of the shoemakers’ kids going without shoes. Call it a priority problem, neglect, or just plain sin the truth is that most of us in ministry know that conversation all too well. So is it possible to build an intentional plan to minister to your family while ministering to others?

Some time ago my wife came to me with a similar concern. The conversation pretty much went like this, “You help plan teaching series for thousands of people, mission trips, multimillion dollar budgets, hiring and staffing plans, and strategies to move an organization with over 6,000 people in it forward, you think we can come up with a plan for our family?” I had nothing. She was right. I was a schmuck and needed simply to repent and lead more effectively. After all people write business plans, marketing plans, financial plans, education plans, personal development plans and so on. Why not a plan for our family? So we went to work discussing the following categories:

Posted in Family, Spiritual Formation