Phase II: R-1 Visa Extension Application. It is July 24th 2012 as I write this. Back in February and March it was clear my work here would take more than one year, so Greg Westra (Chair of council) sent in an application to extend the R-1. It was acknowledged recieved by the government agency on March 22, 2012. Their website showed an 'average' time of processing for renewal applications where a site visit had been done in the last five years (one was done for the original application) of two months. It has now been four months, and we do not have confirmation of processing yet. The visa expires in August.
I post this as a future reference for any Canadian Pastor considering work in a US church, so you can be warned and informed that these are lengthy processes. We have a contingency plan in place, namely that I will take (originally unplanned) vacation time if my R-1 visa expires without word on the decision on the extension.
Well, some days have passed and we have learned new things. We have learned that if you have properly applied for an extension before your current visa expires, you generally are automatically granted an extension until you hear further:
"Even though you are not actually in a lawful nonimmigrant status, you do not accrue “unlawful presence” for purposes of inadmissibility under section 212(a)(9)(B) of the Act, while your extension of status application is pending if it was filed prior to the expiration of your Form I-94."
"Although you are out of status, you may be permitted, depending on your classification, to continue your previously authorized employment for a maximum period of 240 days while your extension application is pending if USCIS receives your application before your Form I-94 expires, and you have not violated the terms ofyour nonimmigrant status."
We had been plannng for me to take three weeks of vacation time if we had not heard anything by the deadline, but now it seems I'm ok to keep working, and in fact, much as I was looking forward to a trip to visit family, I have been advised NOT to leave the US while my visa is in this uncertain status, because the chance of problems getting back in without an up to date I-94 R-1 visa in hand are very high.
By the way, I wrote a reflective blog about the original delay, but neglected to link to it from here. Here it is: http://network.crcna.org/content/pastors/stopped-and-stranded-border/stopped-and-stranded-border
On Friday Aug 3, 2012 we spoke to a representative from USCIS asking if there were reasons for the length of time it was taking to process our extension application that we could do anything about - missing information etc. We were told that the application was still in 'staging' and that the way things looked an agent would be getting it on their desk in the next 30-35 days sometime, and if there were no concerns a decision would be coming soon after.
In calls like this Greg Westra, the chair of council, has learned you need to learn what kind of terminology they are using. For instance he once called to ask a question stating he was a 'representative' of the church ("petitioner") which leads them to assume you are a lawyer and he felt he was treated differently (more carefully) in that call than the one we made Friday. I was present for the call, as they are very concerned to only be speaking to people named in the documents. Again, this might be useful reference material for anyone else in the R-1 process.
The person we spoke to also spoke of new regulations and expectations being what has been bogging the system down while staffing levels remain unchanged.
Oh, memories! When I was a teen, Larry Norman was the only thing resembling rock and roll that was permitted in the house. But beforehand I got an explanation from my Dad and an Elder about how the Rapture was wrong. Sort of like a Theological antidote pre potential poisoning.
Since then, I've come to subscribe to the possibility presented I think by Walsh and Middleton in "The Transforming Vision" that maybe, if there is to be disappearing going on, the ones left on earth will be there to build the Kingdom. But then, I like turning existing assumptions on their heads.
So, when Larry Norman came to Ontario Canada in the early 2000s (I think) I took one of my teen sons (who was too much into rap for my liking - a lingering Grand Rapids influence) to see his concert. I got to talk with him (he was like 63 years old), and asked him specifically about the song Ron mentions. Larry said that if you read the words carefully he wrote it with no clear indication of who was going where, only that a 'leaving' had occurred.
Paul wrote: "I’d argue that the presence of the entire framework through which we’ve interpreted the value of the Gospel has changed and in many ways we need to work to understand the gospel anew within our present cultural-values framework."
I second that. Resoundingly. We are percieved as museums, even if these are living re-enactment museums that let us feel like we are active. Let's find new ways of bringing a Reformational Gospel into our culture... if we can keep up with it.
Like mothers who find they have no identity when the nest has emptied, many pastors have invested so much of themselves in their pastoral 'role' that the person underneath the 'robe' gets lost. Or, sometimes that person would be 'more lost' at the end because a person without a clear self-identity who is in search of one when the robe and its role are put upon them, is likely to not know where one's true self ends and when the role begins.
Sadly, in my years of observing firsthand, I have seen a number that find nothing behind or underneath the role and it's work when their time of serving officially ends. Troubling in a different way were the one or two I've encountered who planned to burn the robe and all artifacts related to it and dance and whoop in freedom and joy. Neither are healthy in my understanding today.
So, I would add this to what George says: Such a process of reflection should be perpetual and ongoing from the day one accepts their 'calledness.' If one is on a journey of "becoming more authentically me" already when the call is recognized, maybe there is less chance of encountering this jolt at the retiremement transition.
That said, the qualities of person that qualify them technically for the role, such as pastoral heart, or ability to explain - and so on - remain part of them throughout and have not disappeared upon hanging up the robe. So they can be very useful to the Kingdom work if they chose to continue to use those in various places.
The most consistent struggle I've heard in the words of newly retired ministers has been the sudden loss of power. Be careful, I would say, not to chase finding that power back... I've seen too much damage done in that persuit.
Google Docs/Drive has become a very helpful tool in worship planning. It literally lets everyone involved in planning worship work from the same page, instead of email editions flying back and forth.
I start by setting up a planning page, usually for a three month period of time. It looks like this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16qCGi07QCR5udWt_sDoOGHJvssx5gFDAEyebTTvXfrY/edit
To set that up, you need to learn some things about how to give people access to a page. For instance, that one I just gave the link for I changed to "Anyone who has the link can see the page."
Then, on that page, some basic information can be entered once the calendar dates are filled in. Things like Pentecost, or Communion, Liturgical seasons, Sermon series and titles/texts or which worship team is leading etc can be noted in the main line, and scheduled accompanists or techs can be given a column. All worship planners and leaders have access to this page.
Then, on the far right of the page, after the basic Order of Service (OoS) is prepared -- also as a Google Doc -- a link to the OoW or OoS is put on the main planning page, and it is set to "Anyone with the link can see" but another step is taken to give anyone who might need to make changes to it the right to edit the page. That gets a little more complicated, and I won't explain here, I'm just sharing the concept.
So, for instance, the bulletin editor or church administrator or a deacon can add in what the offering is for, and the Worship leaders can pick the songs and add them in. They can even leave a note for the Pastor asking if the song fits. Or the Pastor can leave a question about preferring a song but not being sure if the congregation is familiar with it. A short theme statement or paragraph of where the sermon looks like it will go can be put at the bottom of the page by the pastor so others can be 'on theme' with their songs, litanies, prayers or whatever they contribute.
Then, at the printing deadline, it can be printed, or moved into a projection system. I've now already had the experince of being at a practice with worship leaders and editing it together on a tablet right on the spot. Part of the beauty of it is that it is availble anywhere an internet connection can be made.
So that is the concept. In my last church it (along with educating people to help design the service) was a definite game changer.
One additional thing is that I am slowly building up a library of my favourite liturgical components (mostly from The Worship SourceBook, or adapted from it) on Google Docs, making it very easy to find them and add them into an OoW.
Something I've noticed in similar website roving is that churches often use 'stock' pictures of people who look happy enough, but a) looked so professional that they likely were originally ad pictures or studio pictures and b) don't look anything like the people form the church represented.
A late-coming update: I did make it across the border R-1 Visa in hand very early in August 2011 after approval came through in late July. At the time of writing I'm in my 8th month of serving the church in Iowa, and an application has been filed for an extension of my R-1 Visa for a year. We're curious to see if that takes as long as the original application, which is why the church has started on it early.
I think I would define emotional health in terms of capacity. Emotionally healthy people are able to process and handle their own lives/situations as well as building into the lives of others. I think marks of emotional health are vulnerability, transparency, honesty, self-confidence, compassion, empathy, boundaries, etc. I think many church leaders and intergenerational relationships break down around vulnerability, honesty & transparency most often in our tradition.
I think you're setting up a bit of a false dichotomy between understanding generational influence and having relationships with individuals. None of us is formed in a vaccuum, including Christians. I am, in large degree, influenced by my generation as I suspect you are. Realizing those biases in ourselves is part of honesty, transparency, healing and ultimately emotional capacity to truly bless others - within the Church and without.
[/quote]
Mark, you are on to something important here with "relational ineptness" and a lack of emontional health in leaders contributing to a disconnect with young adults. I chuckled to recognize that it might be happening right here in this discussion! I am a son of immgrants with five young adult kids and am very interested in their generation's experience of this disconnect. Unfortunately I did not really begin to learn about emotional health until I was in my 50's.
One example of many I would give in support of your case is that Calvin Seminary has in the last 20 years moved away from a model of pure academic excellence (A students being expected to become the best pastors) to teaching and training and testing emotional Intelligence and self-awareness and self-care.
I'll take some time later to watch the related videos and see what thoughts and feelings are generated that might be worth sharing.
Posted in: R-1 (US Non-Immigrant Religious Worker) Visa Delay for Canadians
Phase II: R-1 Visa Extension Application. It is July 24th 2012 as I write this. Back in February and March it was clear my work here would take more than one year, so Greg Westra (Chair of council) sent in an application to extend the R-1. It was acknowledged recieved by the government agency on March 22, 2012. Their website showed an 'average' time of processing for renewal applications where a site visit had been done in the last five years (one was done for the original application) of two months. It has now been four months, and we do not have confirmation of processing yet. The visa expires in August.
I post this as a future reference for any Canadian Pastor considering work in a US church, so you can be warned and informed that these are lengthy processes. We have a contingency plan in place, namely that I will take (originally unplanned) vacation time if my R-1 visa expires without word on the decision on the extension.
Posted in: R-1 (US Non-Immigrant Religious Worker) Visa Delay for Canadians
Well, some days have passed and we have learned new things. We have learned that if you have properly applied for an extension before your current visa expires, you generally are automatically granted an extension until you hear further:
"Even though you are not actually in a lawful nonimmigrant status, you do not accrue “unlawful presence” for purposes of inadmissibility under section 212(a)(9)(B) of the Act, while your extension of status application is pending if it was filed prior to the expiration of your Form I-94."
"Although you are out of status, you may be permitted, depending on your classification, to continue your previously authorized employment for a maximum period of 240 days while your extension application is pending if USCIS receives your application before your Form I-94 expires, and you have not violated the terms of your nonimmigrant status."
We had been plannng for me to take three weeks of vacation time if we had not heard anything by the deadline, but now it seems I'm ok to keep working, and in fact, much as I was looking forward to a trip to visit family, I have been advised NOT to leave the US while my visa is in this uncertain status, because the chance of problems getting back in without an up to date I-94 R-1 visa in hand are very high.
So, we carry on...
Posted in: R-1 (US Non-Immigrant Religious Worker) Visa Delay for Canadians
By the way, I wrote a reflective blog about the original delay, but neglected to link to it from here. Here it is: http://network.crcna.org/content/pastors/stopped-and-stranded-border/stopped-and-stranded-border
Posted in: R-1 (US Non-Immigrant Religious Worker) Visa Delay for Canadians
On Friday Aug 3, 2012 we spoke to a representative from USCIS asking if there were reasons for the length of time it was taking to process our extension application that we could do anything about - missing information etc. We were told that the application was still in 'staging' and that the way things looked an agent would be getting it on their desk in the next 30-35 days sometime, and if there were no concerns a decision would be coming soon after.
In calls like this Greg Westra, the chair of council, has learned you need to learn what kind of terminology they are using. For instance he once called to ask a question stating he was a 'representative' of the church ("petitioner") which leads them to assume you are a lawyer and he felt he was treated differently (more carefully) in that call than the one we made Friday. I was present for the call, as they are very concerned to only be speaking to people named in the documents. Again, this might be useful reference material for anyone else in the R-1 process.
The person we spoke to also spoke of new regulations and expectations being what has been bogging the system down while staffing levels remain unchanged.
Posted in: Theology in Song: The Rapture
Oh, memories! When I was a teen, Larry Norman was the only thing resembling rock and roll that was permitted in the house. But beforehand I got an explanation from my Dad and an Elder about how the Rapture was wrong. Sort of like a Theological antidote pre potential poisoning.
Since then, I've come to subscribe to the possibility presented I think by Walsh and Middleton in "The Transforming Vision" that maybe, if there is to be disappearing going on, the ones left on earth will be there to build the Kingdom. But then, I like turning existing assumptions on their heads.
So, when Larry Norman came to Ontario Canada in the early 2000s (I think) I took one of my teen sons (who was too much into rap for my liking - a lingering Grand Rapids influence) to see his concert. I got to talk with him (he was like 63 years old), and asked him specifically about the song Ron mentions. Larry said that if you read the words carefully he wrote it with no clear indication of who was going where, only that a 'leaving' had occurred.
Posted in: Angst
Paul wrote: "I’d argue that the presence of the entire framework through which we’ve interpreted the value of the Gospel has changed and in many ways we need to work to understand the gospel anew within our present cultural-values framework."
I second that. Resoundingly. We are percieved as museums, even if these are living re-enactment museums that let us feel like we are active. Let's find new ways of bringing a Reformational Gospel into our culture... if we can keep up with it.
Posted in: Reflections on the Retirement Journey
Great reflections!
Like mothers who find they have no identity when the nest has emptied, many pastors have invested so much of themselves in their pastoral 'role' that the person underneath the 'robe' gets lost. Or, sometimes that person would be 'more lost' at the end because a person without a clear self-identity who is in search of one when the robe and its role are put upon them, is likely to not know where one's true self ends and when the role begins.
Sadly, in my years of observing firsthand, I have seen a number that find nothing behind or underneath the role and it's work when their time of serving officially ends. Troubling in a different way were the one or two I've encountered who planned to burn the robe and all artifacts related to it and dance and whoop in freedom and joy. Neither are healthy in my understanding today.
So, I would add this to what George says: Such a process of reflection should be perpetual and ongoing from the day one accepts their 'calledness.' If one is on a journey of "becoming more authentically me" already when the call is recognized, maybe there is less chance of encountering this jolt at the retiremement transition.
That said, the qualities of person that qualify them technically for the role, such as pastoral heart, or ability to explain - and so on - remain part of them throughout and have not disappeared upon hanging up the robe. So they can be very useful to the Kingdom work if they chose to continue to use those in various places.
The most consistent struggle I've heard in the words of newly retired ministers has been the sudden loss of power. Be careful, I would say, not to chase finding that power back... I've seen too much damage done in that persuit.
Pete
Posted in: Time for An Update
Google Docs/Drive has become a very helpful tool in worship planning. It literally lets everyone involved in planning worship work from the same page, instead of email editions flying back and forth.
I start by setting up a planning page, usually for a three month period of time. It looks like this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16qCGi07QCR5udWt_sDoOGHJvssx5gFDAEyebTTvXfrY/edit
To set that up, you need to learn some things about how to give people access to a page. For instance, that one I just gave the link for I changed to "Anyone who has the link can see the page."
Then, on that page, some basic information can be entered once the calendar dates are filled in. Things like Pentecost, or Communion, Liturgical seasons, Sermon series and titles/texts or which worship team is leading etc can be noted in the main line, and scheduled accompanists or techs can be given a column. All worship planners and leaders have access to this page.
Then, on the far right of the page, after the basic Order of Service (OoS) is prepared -- also as a Google Doc -- a link to the OoW or OoS is put on the main planning page, and it is set to "Anyone with the link can see" but another step is taken to give anyone who might need to make changes to it the right to edit the page. That gets a little more complicated, and I won't explain here, I'm just sharing the concept.
So, for instance, the bulletin editor or church administrator or a deacon can add in what the offering is for, and the Worship leaders can pick the songs and add them in. They can even leave a note for the Pastor asking if the song fits. Or the Pastor can leave a question about preferring a song but not being sure if the congregation is familiar with it. A short theme statement or paragraph of where the sermon looks like it will go can be put at the bottom of the page by the pastor so others can be 'on theme' with their songs, litanies, prayers or whatever they contribute.
Then, at the printing deadline, it can be printed, or moved into a projection system. I've now already had the experince of being at a practice with worship leaders and editing it together on a tablet right on the spot. Part of the beauty of it is that it is availble anywhere an internet connection can be made.
So that is the concept. In my last church it (along with educating people to help design the service) was a definite game changer.
One additional thing is that I am slowly building up a library of my favourite liturgical components (mostly from The Worship SourceBook, or adapted from it) on Google Docs, making it very easy to find them and add them into an OoW.
Posted in: Moving Beyond Pictures Of Empty Buildings
Something I've noticed in similar website roving is that churches often use 'stock' pictures of people who look happy enough, but a) looked so professional that they likely were originally ad pictures or studio pictures and b) don't look anything like the people form the church represented.
Posted in: Puzzling about Creation Care—Part 2—A Rant
I wonder what would happen to our collective carbon impact if more of us walked to church. I wonder what kind of a great testimony that might be.
Posted in: Stopped and Stranded at the Border
A late-coming update: I did make it across the border R-1 Visa in hand very early in August 2011 after approval came through in late July. At the time of writing I'm in my 8th month of serving the church in Iowa, and an application has been filed for an extension of my R-1 Visa for a year. We're curious to see if that takes as long as the original application, which is why the church has started on it early.
Posted in: re:kindle re:flection
[quote=mhilbelink02]
I think I would define emotional health in terms of capacity. Emotionally healthy people are able to process and handle their own lives/situations as well as building into the lives of others. I think marks of emotional health are vulnerability, transparency, honesty, self-confidence, compassion, empathy, boundaries, etc. I think many church leaders and intergenerational relationships break down around vulnerability, honesty & transparency most often in our tradition.
I think you're setting up a bit of a false dichotomy between understanding generational influence and having relationships with individuals. None of us is formed in a vaccuum, including Christians. I am, in large degree, influenced by my generation as I suspect you are. Realizing those biases in ourselves is part of honesty, transparency, healing and ultimately emotional capacity to truly bless others - within the Church and without.
[/quote]
Mark, you are on to something important here with "relational ineptness" and a lack of emontional health in leaders contributing to a disconnect with young adults. I chuckled to recognize that it might be happening right here in this discussion! I am a son of immgrants with five young adult kids and am very interested in their generation's experience of this disconnect. Unfortunately I did not really begin to learn about emotional health until I was in my 50's.
One example of many I would give in support of your case is that Calvin Seminary has in the last 20 years moved away from a model of pure academic excellence (A students being expected to become the best pastors) to teaching and training and testing emotional Intelligence and self-awareness and self-care.
I'll take some time later to watch the related videos and see what thoughts and feelings are generated that might be worth sharing.