Tweet The title is confusing, isn’t it? It seems to assume some leaders worry and some don’t. The truth is, however, most leaders will have occasions of worry. Worry is…
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Tweet I have been asked frequently for questions a prospective pastor can ask a church. There are lots of resources for churches who are interviewing their next pastor, but I…
Tweet Words are powerful. As leaders, the words we use make a difference. A huge difference. In my post about life-giving statements Jesus made , I shared some things Jesus…
Tweet Want a guaranteed better Thanksgiving? Perhaps even the best Thanksgiving ever? I actually believe Thanksgiving may be one of the most “Christian” holidays we can celebrate. As followers of…
Tweet Leadership is abuzz these days. Everyone is talking about it. I’m not the only blog – and certainly not the best blog, which primarily addresses leadership. Yet, as much…
Tweet I talk with so many younger people, and some my age, who want to be in leadership. They may feel they’ve been passed up, haven’t been given their chance…
I’ve been having a problem with my youngest son lately. He isn’t reading all the emails he should be reading. In fact, we almost missed paying some fees he had due for college, which could have made him miss some deadlines for school. You see, Nate’s a busy college student. He’s consumed with school work, church activities, and a host of social activities. If you want to lose his attention quickly…send him a really long email.
I can’t complain, because he’s wired like me. He is always busy doing something, hates unproductive time, and some emails, if they tend to ramble, simply don’t capture his attention. I realize it’s ultimately our problem, not the sender, but it almost seems a waste of time to process an email that could have been written with the same information in a much shorter form. Just being honest…I don’t read all the long emails I need to read. Sometimes I miss details, because the email was too long to process.
That’s my honesty….I’m working on it…but lately it seems I’m getting a ton of chapter length emails and it prompted me to think through this issue. If you want me to read your email…and people wired like me, here are some suggestions. In fact, if you simply want to make sure your emails are read, regardless of who you email, consider these thoughts.
Here are 7 ways to ensure your email gets read:
I was talking with a 25 year old pastor recently. He is frustrated with his church. He was brought to the church because they wanted him to help the church grown again, but they see him as too young to make decisions on his own. They won’t take his suggestions. They consistently undermine his attempts to lead. They expect him to speak each week and visit the sick, but they won’t let him make any changes that he feels need to be made. It has made for a very miserable situation and he feels helpless to do anything about it. He’s ready to quit and the situation is negatively impacting every other area of his life.
It wasn’t the first time I have heard a story such as this. I hear it frequently from young leaders in churches and the business world. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him, but I didn’t want to mislead him either. The bottom line in this young pastor’s situation:
Tweet I’ve worked with a lot of church plants. And, I’ve been involved in two church plants as the planter. Every planter goes into the process hoping to see lives…