River Valley Christian Church Search Team Updates

2010-12-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

By a unanimous vote of the Search Team, Elders, and the River Valley congregation , Steve Idle has been named as the Senior Minister of River Valley Christian Church.

Steve Idle's Biographical Information:

Steve was born in Anderson, Indiana, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. He graduated from Whitmer High School in Toledo.
After spending one year at Cincinnati Bible Seminary, he transferred and graduated from Great Lakes Christian College in 1978. One week after graduation, he began his ministry in Neapolis, Ohio, as Senior Pastor. There he met and fell in love with Jody; they were married in August of 1979.
Steve has also served as pastor in Michigan and Missouri. He served 13 years at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville and has most recently served as Senior Pastor at NorthEast Christian Church in Lexington, KY beginning in July of 2007.

Steve and Jody have 4 sons, and two adorable grandsons -

Benjamin and his wife, Staci, graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2004. They live in J-Town with their sons Andrew, 5, and Matthew, 3. Benjamin works in Human Resources at Jewish Hospital, and Staci loves being a stay-at-home Mom.
Christopher graduated from WKU in 2006; he lives in the Lyndon area and works for the corporate office of Insight Communications.
Michael is completing his degree with the University of Phoenix. He is engaged to be married to Veronica Johnson in May; they both reside in Louisville as well.
Alex is a 2008 graduate of Manuel High School. He is presently a junior at Kentucky Christian University majoring in youth ministry.

Steve is an avid sports fan. He roots for the Indiana Hoosiers (basketball), and the New York Yankees (baseball). He also loves to read, play golf, and listen to music. Steve and Jody love spending time with their family. Jody enjoys shopping with her daughter-in-law, playing with her grandsons, reading, and walking.

Meeting Minutes, November 4, 2010

2010-11-15T04:33:00.000-08:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:00 pm at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens.

Others in attendance: Jack Blake, Clarence Durham, Mike Ernst

The team met with the Elders to review the entire four (4) month search process. After that review, the team spent considerable time reviewing with the Elders the backgrounds of three (3) candidates that were most impressive to the team. Finally, the team shared with the Elders the two (2) candidates that are seen as finalists.

Next steps: The Elders are to meet with one of the finalists within the next ten days to two weeks (they have already met with the other finalist). After that meeting, the Elders will reconvene with the search team.

The meeting ended at 9:25 pm.

Meeting Minutes, October 28, 2010

2010-10-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:00 pm at the church.

Search Team Attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens

The team conducted a follow up interview with one of the two finalists, along with his wife.

The team also discussed feedback received from the multiple references of each finalist.

The team will meet with the Elders within the next week to ten days to discuss the two finalists and related next steps for each.

The meeting ended at 10:25 pm.

Meeting Minutes, October 12, 2010

2010-10-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:00 pm at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens.

The team spent the first part of the meeting discussing the final three candidates.

After this discussion, the search was narrowed even further to two candidates.

The team delegated follow up tasks and will spend the next week talking to multiple references for each of the two final candidates.

The meeting ended at 9:20.

Minutes, October 7, 2010

2010-10-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:30 pm at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens.

The team conducted an in-person interview during the meeting with a Kentucky-based candidate.

After the interview, the team discussed narrowing the search down to two or three final candidates.

This coming week, the team will consider sermons from the final two or three candidates and begin checking references on these same candidates.

The meeting ended at 10:30.

Meeting Minutes, October 3, 2010

2010-10-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 2:00 pm at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens.

The team conducted 3 telephone interviews during the meeting with candidates from Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa.

Based on these telephone interviews, two candidates will remain in the search process and one candidate will be removed from the process.

After the telephone interviews, the team discussed an in person interview that will be conducted later this week with a candidate based in Kentucky.

Also this coming week, the team will consider sermons from the final few candidates via DVD, CD, or on-line link.

The meeting ended at 5:35.

Minutes, September 21, 2010

2010-09-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:00 pm at the church.

Search Team Attendees: Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens. No guests attended the meeting.

The team reviewed 2 new resumes that had been received past the September 1 deadline. The team determined that no other new resumes would be considered at this time.

At this point, the team has narrowed the search to 6 candidates, from over 70 resumes received in the last 90 days. At this point, the team is trying to bring each candidate to the same place in the search. That would be as follows:
-Resume on hand
-Application on hand
-Written questionnaire on hand
-In person or telephone interview conducted
-Sermon viewed by the team in person or on DVD

Once all candidates have accomplished each step as described above, the team will move to the next phase of reference checking and narrowing the field of candidates even further.

The meeting ended at 9:05.

Minutes, September 14, 2010

2010-09-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:00 at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens. Vic Vogt joined the beginning of the meeting.

The meeting opened with Vic asking a few questions about the process and to offer encouragement to the team. He left the meeting after these few minutes.

The team conducted 2 telephone interviews during the meeting: one with a candidate from Michigan and the other with a candidate from Georgia.

After the telephone interviews, the team discussed a handful of new resumes that had been received.

The team also discussed three or four other candidates that need to be scheduled for phone interviews or in person interviews next week.

The meeting ended at 10:05.

The next meeting is scheduled for September 21 at 7:00 p.m.

Minutes, September 7, 2010

2010-09-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search team began at 7:05 pm at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton. No guests were present.

Sept. 1 was the deadline for resumes to be accepted by the Search Team.

The team began the meeting by conducting a telephone interview with a candidate located in central Kentucky.

After the telephone interview, the team discussed a handful of new resumes that had been received prior to Sept. 1.

The team also discussed the fact that the other 7 candidates on the "short list" had returned their applications and written questionnaires to the team for further consideration. The team hopes to conduct telephone interviews next week with two or three of these candidates.

The next step for the team will be on site visits to observe and listen to sermons from some of the leading candidates. One such visit is being planned for later in September.

Lastly, the team, via Von Oliver, will provide a brief search committee update to the congregation after the church service on Sunday, Sept. 12. Later in September, at an upcoming congregation-wide meeting, the team will provide additional updates and take questions from church members.

The meeting ended at 9:45 pm.

Meeting Minutes, August 30, 2010

2010-09-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the Search Team began at 7:05 p.m. at the church.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, Paul Stephens. No guests were present.

The Team spent all of this meeting reviewing candidates that have submitted resumes to date.

To date, approximately 55 resumes have been received by the Search Team.

September 1 represents the deadline for all resumes to be accepted by the Search Team.

Of the 55 candidates to date, approximately 43 will not be pursued, 12 have been sent applications and questionaires for follow up and 2 have been interviewed by phone. Phone interviews will be conducted with a few more candidates once those applications and questionaires have been returned.

The Search Team is nearing the next phase of the search where in person interviews will be scheduled.

The meeting ended at 8:45 p.m.

August 16, 2010 Meeting Minutes

2010-08-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the Search Team began at 7:10 p.m.

Search Team attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, and Paul Stephens.

Jack Blake, Clarence Durham and Mike Ernst (RVCC Elders) joined the meeting for the first few minutes to thank the team for its time and efforts and to pray with the team.

The committee spent most of this meeting reviewing all candidates who had submitted resumes to date.

To date, approximately 40 resumes have been received by the search team.

Of the 40 candidates to date, approximately 28 will not be pursued, 6 will be sent applications and questionaires for follow up, 5 are new resumes and must be reviewed. One is a person who has returned the application and questionaire and the search team would like to move to the next step which is a telephone screening.

The meeting ended at 9:25 p.m.

The next meeting will be held at church on Monday, August 30 at 7:00 p.m.

August 2, 2010 Meeting Minutes

2010-08-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search committee began at 7:10 pm at the church.

Committee Attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, and Rob Saxton. No guests were present at the meeting.

The committee discussed the following:

Our job opening has now been posted at four of the six Bible Colleges on our initial marketing list. Follow up efforts are underway for the two remaining colleges.
As of today, the Search Team has received several resumes for the Senior Minister position.
The team scores each and every resume using a standardized scoring matrix.
The anticipated process for advancing lead candidates will be:

a. Resume screen

b. Application and written questionnaire

c. Phone interview

d. In person interview

(Not all candidates will advance through each of these steps. Candidates can fall out at any step. Only the strongest candidates would move beyond these steps.)

Rob will draft an employment application and written questionnaire, based on discussion in the meeting this evening, for the team to review. The final version of each will be sent to those candidates who have a strong resume. We are in the process of sending out questionnaires this week. The candidates will be asked to complete these documents and return them to the search team within one week of receipt.
Von will begin work to draft interview questions that can be used on phone interviews and in person interviews later in the process.
The search team will continue to access its email box on the RVCC website to score and review resumes on an on-going basis, as the resumes are received.

The meeting ended at 8:40 p.m. The next committee meeting will be held at the church on Monday, August 16th at 7:00 pm.

July 19th Meeting Minutes

2010-08-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the search committee began at 7:10 pm at the church.
Committee attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, Paul Stephens. No guests were present at the meeting.
Committee discussed the following:

Allison worked with Vic to set up the Search Team email box on the church website.
The email box will be used for responses to resumes, using a standard "thanks template" to be drafted by Rob.
Allison has posted the first two meeting minutes on the church website.
The team shared feedback from the many feedback sessions with Bible groups, fellowship groups, and church staff. The question to these groups was, "What are you looking for in the next Senior Minister?" The feedback was discussed.

Efforts are underway to "post" the opening at Bible colleges (Independent Christian Churches/ Churches of Christ) across the region and the country.
The team finalized the resume scoring matrix.
The team is waiting for feedback from several sources regarding developing a job application and written questionnaire for applicants.

The meeting ended at 8:55 pm. The next committee meeting will be held at the church on Monday, August 2 at 7:00 pm.

July 8, 2010 Meeting Minutes

2010-07-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes, July 08, 2010

· The meeting of the search committee began at 7:00 pm at the church
· Attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton, Paul Stephens
· No guests were present at the meeting.
· Committee discussed the following:

o Minimum and ideal applicant qualifications as determined by the Elders
o Blending a job posting created by Von and a job add created by Allison, to create one job posting/ad that can be used to announce the open position
o A generic employment application produced by Rob that can be customized for RVCC
o Allison will work with Vic to produce an email box on the church website that can be utilized to receive correspondence and applications for the open position.
o Allison will also work with Vic to determine how best to use the RVCC website to provide search committee status reports to the church congregation
o Von will provide an update on the search to the church congregation during the regular Sunday morning service on Sunday July 11
o The committee will then meet with Sunday morning bible groups on Sunday July 18 to solicit their feedback on the ideal candidate
o Laura will attempt to meet with the high school age bible group and Paul with the middle school bible group to solicit their feedback on the ideal candidate
o Rob will begin work on the resume scoring matrix, incorporating the direction from the Elders along with any other feedback from the various bible groups
o Each committee member was assigned a Bible college to be the “key contact” during the search:
§ Laura Milligan/Evangel
§ Von Cincinnati Bible College
§ Rob Johnson
§ Paul Lincoln
§ Allison Kentucky Christian College

The meeting concluded at 8:50 pm.
The next committee meeting will be held at the church on Monday, July 19 at 7:00 pm.

July 1, 2010 Meeting Minutes

2010-07-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Senior Minister Search Committee
Meeting Minutes, July 01, 2010
· The initial meeting of the search committee began at 7:00 pm at the church
· Committee attendees: Von Oliver, Laura Bratcher, Allison Steineker, Rob Saxton
· No guests were present at the meeting.
· Committee discussed the following:

o Need to meet on a regular basis
o Need to communicate updates and progress reports often with the Elders and the church congregation (via small groups, bible study, etc)
o Idea that the committee could meet with various groups within the church to ask “What are you hoping to see in the next Senior Minister?”
o Von said he had reviewed the church by-laws in regards to any language related to minimum criteria and job qualifications
o Rob presented a draft showing potential step by step activities for the committee to follow (attached)

· Committee discussed the need to get direction from the Elders on the following questions prior to the next meeting:
o What college degrees are required?
o What is the minimum number of years experience required? Years as a senior minister?
o What size church would the ideal candidate come from?
o What is the approximate salary range for the position?
o Does the church have a directory of accredited bible colleges or divinity schools that the committee could use to advertise the position?
o Does the church have an official employment application or will the committee need to develop an application?

· Committee divided work to the members as follows:
o Rob to record meeting minutes and draft a resume scoring process
o Von to follow up with Elders on key questions
o Allison to draft a job posting and employment ad
o Laura to research bible colleges and divinity schools and to draft a list of all groups within the church that the committee can meet with

The next committee meeting will be held at the church on Thursday, July 8 at 7:00 pm.

Official Job Posting

2010-07-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

River Valley Christian Church
Senior Minister Job Posting

River Valley Christian Church is seeking applicants interested in serving as Senior Minister. RVCC is a dynamic healthy New Testament Christian Church of passionate followers of Jesus Christ that reaches the unchurched people of the Prospect and Goshen community which is a northern suburb of Louisville, KY.

The Senior Minister will work directly with and be accountable to the Elders of RVCC, who will provide guidance and support for his activities. The Senior Minister will teach Biblical principles, equip and empower the members of RVCC for ministry, and provide leadership that fosters unity, teamwork and a community environment. He will serve as chief administrator of the church staff and serve as a shepherd to the congregation. He will be a servant leader with a teachable spirit, deeply devoted to relationships, prayer, and the Word of God.

River Valley Christian Church is seeking a leader who will effectively support the mission of the church which is to search for those who do not know Jesus, as well as, believers who wish to acquire a deeper knowledge and stronger personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The leadership and congregation of RVCC will minister to those in need and serve as a model of Christianity for our community.

Applicants should have a minimum of Bachelors Degree in ministry (Masters Degree is a plus) from an accredited Bible College or Christian University within the Christian Church/Churches of Christ brotherhood and the following criteria:

· Ten years experience in ministry
· Minimum of four years experience as a minister overseeing a staff of three or more
· Four years experience in preaching either as a senior minister at a medium size church or associate minister for a larger congregation
· Preference will be given to applicants with experience leading churches with more than 300 members.

Applicants should send a cover letter, resume, and at least three professional references to searchteam@rivervalleychristian.org or to the following mailing address: Search Team, River Valley Christian Church, 12650 W US Hwy 42, Prospect, KY 40059 by September 1, 2010. Qualified candidates will be contacted after this date.

For more information about River Valley Christian Church, please visit our website at www.RiverValleyChristian.org.