Happy Valentine's Day
Quick update on rebrand + a success story.
The Story of St. Valentine
Did You Know? In third century Rome, newly married men were granted a reprieve from fighting in war. This made marriage a conflict of interest, as Rome needed every fighting man available to expand the Empire through ongoing military conquest. In order to keep his army size from shrinking, Emperor Claudius II forbade young men from marrying.
While the historical facts are not entirely clear, the story goes that a Roman bishop named Valentine began secretly marrying young Christian men and women. These secret marriages served two purposes—they kept Christian men from needlessly dying for a pagan cause, and, more to the point, they upheld the sanctity of marriage in a world of sexual immorality. As Hebrews 13:4 tells us, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
According to tradition, on February 14, 269, Bishop Valentine was caught and executed for the subversive act of helping young Christians marry in a world that forbade marriage. Legend has it that Valentine’s last words were written to a young woman he had befriended, which he signed, “from your Valentine.”
Some 1700 years later, Valentine’s Day has become one of the biggest and most celebrated holidays in the Western World. The irony is that, much like in the ancient Roman Empire, marriage has come to be seen as a conflict of interest. The sexual revolution and the feminist movement have worked in tandem to destroy the foundations of marriage and family. We live in a day of broken homes and rampant sexual immorality. Young men are encouraged to adopt a carefree “playboy” lifestyle, while young women are encouraged to focus on their career ambitions, in pursuit of becoming “strong, independent women.” A pervasive hookup culture feeds both of these pursuits.
As a result, marriage rates have plummeted to historic lows.
The ongoing collapse of marriage coincides with the collapse of Christian faith in our nation. According to one report, Gen Z is the least religious generation in American history. In this age of widespread apostasy, it’s harder than ever for godly singles to find godly spouses.
In a world that despises marriage, we need more courageous pastors, like Valentine—men who rightfully esteem marriage and call young Christians to it, equipping them for a faithful, fruitful life together.
Rest assured, we will continue our mission of “guiding biblically-faithful singles to find biblically-faithful spouses.” We may just be the best-kept secret since Valentine.
Share us with the godly singles in your life!
Branding Update
As we mentioned in our last update…
Both “dominion” and “dating” are words with a lot of cultural baggage. This means we end up spending more time explaining our name than actually promoting our network. There are pastors and singles who share our vision, but are relucant to partner with us because the name would be a thorn in their side.
After much deliberation, we have landed on a new brand name that we believe is going to serve us very well moving forward into the new year. You can expect a forthcoming announcement, in the weeks ahead, to unveil our new name and logo.
Success Story
Lastly, we began the new year with another success story. We wanted to share this short, exciting note we received:
Hey! Thought I’d let y’all know, my fiancé and I just got engaged and met on your site this past August. Thank you so much for starting this platform! We would’ve have met otherwise as he lives in [one state] and I in [another]. So thankful for y’all!
Huuuge congrats to this couple! We rejoice with you. This makes four or five engagements/marriages thus far. Not bad, considering we haven’t monetized yet, and our site continues to be free for qualified applicants.
We’re working on a testimonial page where we can display future success stories. If you’ve met in our network, and have an engagement or wedding to announce, we’d love to hear from you!
In Christ,
JB Durham
Bnonn Tennant
Kevin VanGelder