Upcoming Quad Cities Event Makes the News

Cache' Connections is breaking into the Quad Cities this Friday night with the Cache' Connections Speed Dating and Expo, held in partnership with Riverside United Methodist Church. Here is an article that was published last Saturday in the local paper, QC Online. CLICK HERE to read the article as published.

MOLINE -- Speed-dating rounds take only five minutes, but Biblically based relationship advice to be discussed at an Oct. 14 Christian singles event has been around for a long, long time, organizers say.

Riverside Methodist Church will sponsor a speed-dating event and expo on Friday, Oct. 14, at the church's Life Center, 2420 41st St. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Vendors from 20 to 30 local companies will have booths set up with information about their business or ministry, games or activities designed to help people become better acquainted, and prizes to be awarded at 8:25 p.m.

The optional speed-dating component will be held from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. and be divided into two sessions, one for people ages 20 to 35, and another for people older than 35. Four- to six-member groups will take five-minute turns meeting one another.

The event will be conducted by a professional community and matchmaking for Christian singles business called Cacheconnections, based in Pekin. For information about the company or the expo, visit connections.com. Tickets are $15 for those who preregister by midnight Thursday, Oct. 13, or $20 at the door.

Cacheconnections was formed in 2007 by Kim Whitaker and Linda Martin.

''Our mission is to provide a connection point for Christian singles for community and matchmaking services, and secondly, for supporting and promoting healthy dating relationships based on Biblical standards,'' Mrs. Martin, company vice president, said in a telephone interview.

''A couple of them we usually lean on are: 'Do not be yoked together with unbelievers,' from 2 Corinthians 6:14; and 'Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord,' from Psalm 31:24.''

Mrs. Martin said they've invested a lot of time and money into the business, but they also see it as a ''calling. Singles are often overlooked and underserved, and churches often aren't equipped to minister to them. Some are quite happy to find someone like us to partner with them.''

Riverside pastor the Rev. Donald Jackson said he hopes the program ''will be a beginning for us to start a singles ministry for our church and community. They contacted us and asked if we would be open to do something. I wouldn't have invited them to Riverside or to the Quad-Cities, though, if I didn't have complete trust in them. I know them and I know of their integrity and what they believe.''

Singles generally feel more comfortable coming to such an event ''when they feel it has a church's stamp of approval,'' Mrs. Martin said.

Guests and members typically find it encouraging when they learn how long Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Whitaker have been married to their husbands.

''It makes people feel that we know what we are doing, and that we don't have ulterior motives of trying to find someone for ourselves,'' said Mrs. Martin, who's been married for 27 years.

Events they've held at other churches don't always include speed dating, but Rev. Jackson thought it would be a good idea to offer it when they visit Riverside.

''It's nice to know that people might find someone that evening with whom they could start building a relationship,'' said Rev. Jackson, who recently became engaged.

Riverside has a small percentage of singles attending church, Rev. Jackson said. ''But I think it's an appropriate event for the Quad-Cities, which hasn't had something exactly like this before.''

Mrs. Martin said Cacheconnections ultimately hopes to form a permanent areawide group to meet regularly to share Christian relationship advice, dating advice that has stood the test of time.


We look forward to helping the Christian singles of Davenport, Moline, Rock Island and Bettendorf connect. If you are in the Quad Cities area, be sure to encourage your Christian single friends to come out for this unique opportunity!

~ Linda
Cache' Connections