Multi-stake calling and directory access

[BrianEdwards]

Starting this as a new thread to avoid forking the CDOL - list of callings visible thread any further I currently have a multi-stake calling that does not have any default way to provide directory (but not leadership) access in the assigned stakes. I know this is a fairly niche occurrence, but as I'm not aware of it having been posted in its own thread here in the Forum, it might be helpful for the occasional time that somebody else encounters this and comes looking for suggestions (or has an update if things change in the future).

I asked one of the stake clerks to contact SLC about this, just to confirm for ourselves the idea that was suggested in that other thread. And their response was that there wasn't any current way for our callings to be shared across stakes. However, they suggested that we might be able to have each stake add me as a custom "out-of-unit" stake-level calling (as suggested in the other thread). This would avoid the potential issue with normal out-of-unit callings, where the member is included in a home unit in the stake. As I just need directory access, and have no need for leadership (LCR/CDOL) access, getting myself included at the stake-level would seem to provide me with the contact info for anyone throughout the different stakes, and also would list me at the stake level for anyone looking to contact me. I have shared this info with my priesthood leader, and he will then decide if he wants us to proceed along this path. Or perhaps we'll just stick with the default information sharing method of requesting each stake provide relevant contact info, and then I try and keep my personal list up-to-date for all the assigned stakes.

If we do go down this path, I'll update this thread with results (hopefully all good news). And if anyone else has existing experience with this approach, please share.

[mdigi]

By "Multi-stake" calling, do you mean leadership callings like Local Area Seventy, Mission Presidency, etc?
If so, I would recommend they raise the need to their Area Presidency.

For general callings that want to coordinate amongst multiple stakes, it's probably best to call a representative from each stake.
Those representatives can coordinate together and interface with the members from their respective stakes.

[BrianEdwards]

By "Multi-stake" calling, do you mean leadership callings like Local Area Seventy, Mission Presidency, etc?
If so, I would recommend they raise the need to their Area Presidency.

For general callings that want to coordinate amongst multiple stakes, it's probably best to call a representative from each stake.
Those representatives can coordinate together and interface with the members from their respective stakes.

I was called by our local Area Seventy to a calling that covers the stakes in our Coordinating Council, for specific efforts that the Council/Area has decided to support in this particular fashion (I'm definitely not involved in those discussions, I'm just assigned work to do). I work closely with representatives from each stake as well as specific individual units, but my responsibilities are not integrated into the ward/stake/council/area leadership channels, more of a "council coordinator for a particular effort" than a "priesthood leader". This calling did not previously exist for our Council, and I report directly to the Area Seventy, not to any stake president.

As an aside, I've always been a bit reticent to share my particular callings in my Forum posts. I know many others freely share if they are an STS, ward clerk, etc, and that can be very helpful to know. Perhaps at some point I'll just go ahead and share the details, but for now I'll just say that it seems that per LCR this is what would be considered a custom calling, although at higher church levels it seems to be a calling that is fairly official and is in place in a few other Councils.

[mdigi]

I was called by our local Area Seventy to a calling that covers the stakes in our Coordinating Council

Yes, I could envision many callings extended by an A70 needing access to the directory of members for the units which they serve. I wouldn't be hesitant asking the A70 if they could inquire about getting proper access to those directories for you.

As an aside, I've always been a bit reticent to share my particular callings in my Forum posts.

I completely understand; I feel the same.

[mevans]

As an aside, I've always been a bit reticent to share my particular callings in my Forum posts. I know many others freely share if they are an STS, ward clerk, etc, and that can be very helpful to know.

I often see that when people share their callings, it's usually in the context of their problem and it's helpful to know that when answering questions. It may change the answer from "it's broken" to "it's not part of your calling and you need to discuss the issue with your leaders to see if a different calling is appropriate." In this post, you shared the useful information that your calling of concern doesn't exist in the handbook.

As was suggested, discuss it with your Area Authority. He may need to raise the concern to his leadership, or it may be possible that such a calling exists and someone at church headquarters needs to assign you to the calling. There are things they can do a church headquarters that stakes and wards cannot do. For example, I've seen someone in our stake assigned the calling of secretary for an Area Authority. I don't know what permissions such a calling grants, but maybe something like that grants permissions for the secretary to see the membership of all the associated stakes. Even if that isn't your calling, you might have the Area Authority explore if such a calling grants the needed access and, if it does, whether you can also be given that calling.

I received another calling earlier this year. After I looked at the access table, I suggested to the stake that they consider calling me to a different calling that would make make it more convenient work with LCR. They reviewed my suggestion and called me to the that calling instead.

[BrianEdwards]

For example, I've seen someone in our stake assigned the calling of secretary for an Area Authority. I don't know what permissions such a calling grants, but maybe something like that grants permissions for the secretary to see the membership of all the associated stakes. Even if that isn't your calling, you might have the Area Authority explore if such a calling grants the needed access and, if it does, whether you can also be given that calling.

Thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate that the Forum can generate this type of discussion

Perhaps others have seen an Area Seventy Secretary with access to multi-stake information, but at least for my calling where I've directly interacted with our Area Seventy Secretary, the info he provided me was all given to him from the different Stake Presidents, and he didn't have access to any Stake info through his calling permissions. I was slightly surprised he doesn't have access (at least by default) to multi-stake directory information, so I am not surprised my calling is similar. Our Area Seventy is aware of my request for multi-stake access, and at least for now there's no answer, but he is open to seeing if a workaround can be sufficient.

[BrianEdwards]

Update: the "out-of-unit" stake calling approach was successful. With his stake president's approval, one of the stake clerks added me into a custom "out-of-unit" stake calling. This provides the desired directory access both online and in the Tools app (after the requisite data refresh step ). I'm working with the other stakes to implement the same process.

BTW, the Area Seventy did approve us implementing this approach to provide directory access, and I've let him know it was successful. My impression is that he believes the Church's system cannot currently support a calling being "assigned" to multiple stakes (beyond the very standard callings of Area Seventy, etc). So at least he's aware of this solution. I imagine most Area/Council callings wouldn't require broad directory access as they likely interact with a specific limited scope of other leaders, mine is probably a niche circumstance.

[mevans]

First you mentioned that the Area Authority Seventy "didn't have access to any Stake info through his calling permission." Then you said the following:

My impression is that he believes the Church's system cannot currently support a calling being "assigned" to multiple stakes (beyond the very standard callings of Area Seventy, etc). So at least he's aware of this solution.

Your second statement made me think that the Area Authority Seventy does have access to multiple stakes, and it's just your custom calling that doesn't. If that's true, then it's probably not a significant amount of work to give permissions to other multi-stake callings. Of course, since you have a custom calling, that's not going to get implemented; however, if the need arises, your Area Authority Seventy is one who might have leverage to get features implemented. You might have him discuss the need with the Area Presidency. Changes won't get implemented without feedback from people they listen to.

[BrianEdwards]

First you mentioned that the Area Authority Seventy "didn't have access to any Stake info through his calling permission." Then you said the following:

My impression is that he believes the Church's system cannot currently support a calling being "assigned" to multiple stakes (beyond the very standard callings of Area Seventy, etc). So at least he's aware of this solution.

Your second statement made me think that the Area Authority Seventy does have access to multiple stakes, and it's just your custom calling that doesn't. If that's true, then it's probably not a significant amount of work to give permissions to other multi-stake callings. Of course, since you have a custom calling, that's not going to get implemented; however, if the need arises, your Area Authority Seventy is one who might have leverage to get features implemented. You might have him discuss the need with the Area Presidency. Changes won't get implemented without feedback from people they listen to.

Perhaps I wasn't clear that I was referring to the Area Seventy Secretary and not the Area Seventy. The Area Seventy Secretary doesn't have access to stake information for the stakes that the Area Seventy is assigned over. I assume the Area Authority himself may have access, but perhaps not, I'm not aware of any details for that. The Area Seventy Secretary provided me with some contact information he had obtained via stake presidents, and then suggested I follow up myself with the stakes to get additional contact information (because he did not have access himself). My only real ongoing communication is with the Area Seventy Secretary, who is the primary go-between for myself and the Area Seventy, so my feedback to him is routed through his secretary, and his responses likewise. I've shared my feedback up my leadership chain, and then he'll determine if any further discussion with his leaders is warranted.

Regarding multi-stake callings, I don't know that it being a custom calling is the key issue, since I don't think even a standard calling in LCR could be assigned to multiple stakes. I've never seen any multi-stake calling appear in the directory listing at the stake level. Again, a fairly niche situation that I'm not surprised the Church's highly structured database system would not support. But I'm no expert for sure, this is all a very-new experience for me, and there may well be much that I'm not aware of.

[lajackson]

Our secretary to the Area Seventy was given access to CDOL, not LCR. His access went away the day he was released a month or so ago. For most everything he did, he mostly only needed access to addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses for the stake presidents in the coordinating councils the Area Seventy was assigned to serve.