Sarah Carrillo
Living Editor
Having trouble finding someone to take to all the great date places in the Malibu area? Well, one member of Churches of Christ anticipated this need and came up with a solution: an online dating Web site specifically for members of Churches of Christ.
The site, www.churchofchristsingles.com, was started by Jim Foster as a way to help members of Churches of Christ to find other singles who are also members of the church. Members of the site can set up a profiles, read other’s profiles and chat with potential dates. It does not cost money to look at others’ profiles or to read the many success stories the site has, but it does cost to set up a profile and be a part of the search process so others can find you.
Foster compares his site to eHarmony and shows how his site has a better success rate and is less expensive. The cost of a one-year membership for www.churchofchristsingles.com is $48 and for eHarmony it is $249.95. There are 4,000,000 people on eHarmony and 4,109 on www.churchofchristsingles.com, which gives members a much smaller pool of candidates to choose from. However, there have been 3,000 weddings as a result of eHarmony and 103 from www.churchofchristsingles.com, which means members are 33 times more likely to find a spouse — if, of course, they are members of Churches of Christ.
The site has other statistics marking its success, as well. Of the 4,000 members, 3,319 have spoken on the phone with another member, 2,903 have met another member face to face and 886 have exclusively dated another member.
After creating a login name, members are free to search the site and read the profiles of members from all over the country. There is also an option to send other members e-mails after reading their profiles.
One of the more humorous features of the site are the “Christian Pickup Lines,” which ask questions such as: “Is it a sin that you stole my heart?” These act as a link to the member profiles, but might also spark conversations among members.
10-28-2004
