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Don Viar, MBA, CPA (inactive)
Founder & CEO
Founder and CEO
Don can best be described as an entrepreneur with a passion for God, family and his community (in that order). He founded Minister Match after serving on two separate search committees - one inside and one outside of the church. He was struck by the lack of resources that were available to help the church identify best practices and source a strong pool of candidates as compared to what he was seeing in the professional community. Through Minister Match, he aims to help congregations make better hiring decisions that lead to longer minister tenures and healthier congregations.
Recruiter
Tyler is a native of Cookeville, Tennessee, and has lived there his whole life. After he went on a mission trip in 2014 to help the tiny congregation in Galway, Ireland, put on a summer Bible camp, Tyler began to have a passion for missions and church growth. This is why he strongly believes in the purpose Minister Match has of bringing about growth by finding and hiring ministers who are the “right fit” for their congregations. He began working at Minister Match in August 2015 within a week of finding out it existed! Tyler also works with Willow Avenue Church of Christ's college ministry and preaches for small congregations in the area on a regular basis.
Search Manager
John Nichols is a Search Manager for Minister Match. He has been on the Minister Match team since the beginning of the organization. John oversees the search process on the Minister Match side and stays in close contact with the committee chairman from the local church. He makes sure the candidate pool is complete and each candidate meets minimum and preferred qualities. John firmly believes in Don Viar's vision that quality hiring processes produce more church stability and Kingdom growth. He also serves as one of the ministers at the Netherland Church of Christ.
Contact Information
Minister Match
410 South Lowe Avenue
Cookeville, TN 38501
Your congregation has just hired a minister, and it seems like they are the perfect fit. Congratulations! There is one more step to the process, though, and it is just as important as the process of finding the right minister. You might have heard people refer to how the “first hundred days” of someone’s job usually sets the tone for their entire career with that organization. The same is true with ministers. Just as your congregation is going through a major transition, so is your new minister. The first few months of a job are a stressful time, and it is the job of the elders and search committee to help your new minister through their transition.
We refer to this as the “On-Boarding Stage.” Since the “first hundred days” is so important to the rest of a minister’s career with your congregation, we believe this stage is one of the keys to reducing minister turnover in the church. In this post, we want to talk about a few of the things that a new minister needs from their congregation during this transition period. We will refer to them as the ABC’s of the On-Boarding Phase.