ChristianCafe.com

Earlier this month ChristianCafe.com announced that American and Canadian members now have improved search functionality. Members can now search for other members based on a distance from a postal or zip code. This search parameter can be combined with other search options.

To try out Distance Search simply create a New Search just like before. You will see Distance as the third option down. The zip/postal code you see there by default is the one that we have on file as part of your profile. If you would like to change it, change your address under Edit Profile. You can always change the zip/postal code on-the-fly for every search (just input it right in the box). Every new search you do, however, will default back to the zip/postal code indicated in your profile settings.

Christian Cafe staff also suggest you update any saved searches you are using to specify a maximum distance to find members.

For more information on this award winning dating site, read our ChristianCafe.com Review.

This years Editor's Top Pick - Christian Award goes to ChrsitianCafe.com. We first reviewed this site in late November 2007 and we liked what we saw. At that time, the review was still considered too new to be included for consideration in the 2007 awards. This year is a different story and the Christian Cafe dating service (which members have shorten to CC) has only improved their service.

This Christian-owned-and-operated dating site is popular in the United States, Canada and has gathered a strong following in the United Kingdom and Australia. I really like how Christian Cafe is run. One of the things I really approve of is when you sign up as a free member you get 10 days of full access to the dating site (except chat rooms). This means you can send/receive emails and send instant messages to members online. All this is done without giving them your credit card. You can't get a much better free membership when trying out a dating service. Most dating sites allow searching and viewing of profiles for free but no real communication. The other thing you will notice is, there is very little advertising on this site. Most dating sites have online ads posted through out their site. The funny things is, these ads are usually asking members to join some other dating service (I always wonder why they advertise their competitors?).

This online dating site is filled with active Christian singles who are easy to find. Just type in your postal/zip code and select the distance potential matches must live within. Every profile lists when the member was last on and you can even search by this attribute. Unlike other dating sites ChristianCafe.com does not pad their membership numbers. If a member hasn't logged in within 90 days the profile is flagged inactive and will not appear in search results. It is also easy to see how many new members join every week. The number appears at the top of the page by the menu bar, which you can click to view and interact with the new member list.

There are bigger general oriented dating sites out there but, none have the quality and quantity of active Christian members as ChristianCafe.com does.

Read our review of ChristianCafe.com for more information about this dating service or visit ChristianCafe.com directly.

This Years Runner Ups for this award include (in no particular order): eHarmony and ChristianMingle.com.

ChristianCafe.com have currently reduce their memberships prices by up to 25% this month for the Christmas season. This means you will receive:

• $10 off a 3 month membership.
• $20 off a 6 month membership.
• $20 off a 12 month membership.

Now is the time to sign up to find Christian singles near you. If you have a friend who you think may be interested in this online dating service, gift memberships are also available. Read our ChristianCafe.com Review for more information on this dating site.

Western Alumni Gazette from the University of Western Ontario has a piece about the owners of the dating service Christian Cafe. They go into details on how Philip and Samuel Moorcroft got ChristianCafe.com off the ground in the late 1990's, some of the challenges they faced and how the dating site is fairing now. Currently the cafe is one of the largest Christian site's on the internet with over a 100,000 members. The business is based in Markham, Ontario, Canada and employees 15 people.

For more information on Christian Cafe please read our review.

ChristianCafe.com now allows members to recommend a profile you find to either other ChristianCafe.com members or a non member friend through email. A great idea, especially for friends using the same dating site. There is great fun to be had in pointing out the really great (or really bad!) profiles to friends so you can talk about them later. The only thing I would have added to this feature is the ability to include a quick note with the profile explaining to the person you are sending it too, why you are doing it or what stuck out about this particular profile.

Looks like the weekend I reviewed ChristianCafe.com they had updated their Instant Messaging software.

I never used ChristianCafe.com old 'Quick Messaging' system, but their new one works well and also adds audio and video support for paying members. Reading there blog, it looks like there have been several updates over the last month to the dating service, which is good news for the Cafe's members.