Website Helps Loma Linda Find Love

Computers do more than store our data. They connect us across long distances. They spark romance and witness heartache.

Then why wouldn’t they help counsel couples, asked Zanetta van Putten, owner of relationshipcafé.org, an online counseling site.

Earlier this month, van Putten held the first relationship web counseling conference in partnership with the Loma Linda University Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Over the course of several days,  a group of experts connected electronically with conference -goers. Topics ranged from how to keep the spice in your marriage to how to find that special someone.

“This is the first conference of its kind I’ve done,” van Putten said. “In the past, I have done webinars. And I had attended a conference in this format and I found it wonderful because I did not have to travel or go through the airport. This met my budget and my need to be home. I thought this was exciting.”

As a woman of faith, van Putten found experts with a spiritual side, such as Earl McMillan, Elder Mt. Rubidoux Seventh Day Adventists Church, a former pastor who counseled couples in the past.

His message to conference-goers: “In order to find that person you connect with, you first have to be rooted in God. If you are rooted and grounded in Him, then God will lead you to each other.”

The former pastor said if felt odd to lecture over the phone to listeners whose faces he could not see.

“I’m relating information to people I’m hoping are there,” McMillian said.  “After the lecture, a number of questions came in. When I was talking before, I was hearing nothing. It was strange. But I would definitely do it again. I found it fascinating to reach people you don’t see necessarily."

Van Putten said she hopes to have another webinar in the near future. For information, e-mail her at Zvanputten@relationshipcafe.org.