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About Don
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 Carr

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

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.

Testimonials

We had a very good experience with Minister Match.  This was not the first time we had searched for a minister, but it was the first time we used a search firm.  Our experience with Minister Match was a complete success.  In previous searches, we ...
Jim Holway - Minister, Sunset Church of Christ
I think that because of the format that was there and the process that we followed, it made us stand out to our quality group of finalists who had other lines in the water looking for opportunities. When it came time to offer our finalist the ...
Joel Shelton - Search Committee Chairman, Commerce Church of Christ
From my standpoint as one of the elders, I can say we were pleased with the process, and feel the time and money spent was well worth it. We felt we received excellent service from your firm, and because we were among the first to use your service ...
Bob Perkins - Elder, Sunset Church of Christ
Minister Match did an excellent job connecting me with a congregation that I would not have known about otherwise.  Don Viar did an excellent job representing my concerns to the search committee and did an excellent job communicating their concerns ...
Drew Baker - Preaching Minister, South Fork Church of Christ
I was so happy when Minister Match reached out to me about a potential job. I consider Minister Match an answer to my prayers.
Clay Tidwell
Minister Match helped us hire a new minister in half the time we took for our previous hire.  We used the Minister Match process which helped us build a consensus of what we wanted.  Minister Match's network then helped us to build an ...
Tom Long - Search Committee Chairman, South Fork Church of Christ
I was grateful for the guidance of Minister Match through the complex and time-intensive search process. John was responsive, supportive and knowledgable. Communication was excellent and flexible around my availability as a volunteer search ...
Brandon Clark - Youth Minister Search Committee Chairman, Mesa Church of Christ
The process was well marketed and we were provided ample information to help explain the steps to the congregation.  The book that accompanied the information was very valuable and I referred to it often during the process.  As the search team ...
Bill Gaw - Search Committee Chariman, Waterford Church of Christ
Our Search Committee is so grateful that we used Minister Match when we needed to hire our new Youth Minister. Minister Match assisted us in recruiting many serious candidates (over 30) that fit what our congregation was looking for. The ...
Jorge Acebo - Search Committee Chairman, Sunset Church of Christ
Minister Match was kind to me, followed up really well, and tried to be as helpful as possible. I believe they give a lot of attention to the candidates and care about their part of the process.
Kerry Williams - Minister, Waterford Church of Christ

Contact Information

Minister Match
410 South Lowe Avenue
Cookeville, TN 38501

ABC Blocks

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.