GREAT, you got the first aspect.
Now the second:
So if Scripture is correct that the "dead" arise first, and then they which are alive and remain shall be "caught up", then if we follow the "dead" then those who remain "alive" are raptured accordingly:
Rev. 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.
Rev. 20:7 And when the thousand years are ended, ...
... 13 And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done.
Thus, when at the end of the age, when THE REST OF THE DEAD ARE RAISED, all who are alive and remain on earth shall ascend to the New Jerusalem:
1 Thess 4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Please don't allow your church doctrine to supersede Scripture!
Thanks,
DaDad