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

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

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

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

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

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

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.