PHOENIX, Ariz. — “We have an opportunity to make Adventist history tonight,” said lead organizer, Sandra Ramirez to a passionate GYC (Generation of Youth for Christ) crowd this morning. “Tonight thousands of you have the chance to meet your future life partner.”
Although the official schedule euphemistically calls tonight’s festivities “Networking”, nobody at the conference held at the Phoenix Convention Center expects 5000 mostly single attendees to be exchanging business cards at what is sure to be the social highlight of this year’s conference.
“We would never doubt the sincerity of these attendees to preach the gospel but when you’ve got an army of Adventist young people that have spent their hard-earned cash to travel to Phoenix for an annual conference, there’s a lot of pressure on us organizers to provide a tangible return on their investment,” said Ramirez. “That’s why we decided to experiment with the idea of a mass speed dating event.”
The rules for tonight’s proceedings are simple: You have exactly 144 seconds to exchange info on your name, your home church and your favorite Song of Solomon snippet with a member of the opposite sex.
“You’ll hear a gong when it’s time to move on to the next person,” said Ramirez. “Keep track of who you liked and let us know at the end. If they liked you back, you’ll get their digits. If not, come back next year.”
Call this event, “GYC SDA Christian Mingle”. Where do I sign up? Woe is me!!