The associate pastor was perusing Ford’s website in June, researching prices for an Explorer, and came upon a contest that posed the question, “If you had a Ford Explorer for a week, what would you do and where would you go?” He decided, on a whim, to give his 250-words-or-less answer, saying he would take his fellow pastors to Alaska.
“I didn’t expect anything to happen from that because who does expect anything from that?” Sterger joked. “But four weeks later, we got a call from Ford.”
The company, as part of its “Go. Do. Adventures” campaign, thought the weather was too bad in Alaska, but opted to send them for “the ultimate vacation to the Grand Canyon.” So in mid-November, Sterger, 55, and four members of Calvary’s leadership — Anthony Ippolito, 34; Mike Ippolito, 32; Phil Wojcik, 22; and Daniel Vasquez, 33 — flew to Arizona for a five-day adventure that turned out so much more valuable than they could imagine.
They went hot-air ballooning over Sedona, saw the south rim of the Grand Canyon and enjoyed a lavish dinner in Flagstaff. All along, they drove a brand-new Ford Explorer and were filmed for a national Ford commercial set to air in 2012.
But the craziest part of the trip came on the second day.
The group knew something seemed off when they met with a film crew of 30 people, including Ford and another with Outside Television. That’s when Kirsten Gum, the host of “Treasure Hunter” on the Travel Channel who was hosting part of a documentary of the experience for Outside Television, arrived and told them they needed some competition for their next adventure.
Their challengers had familiar faces. Calvary Chapel’s Rich Daubenspeck, 42, Ron Meyer, 53, Nate McNeil, 24, Rob Rodriguez, 38, and David Coyle, 42, had kept secret for six months that they would be joining the other group in Arizona for the documentary and commercial.
It was fun, but tough, keeping mum. The other group would keep telling them about their upcoming adventure and they had to bite their tongues and say, “We wish we were going,” Coyle laughed.
The original group, the red team, and the group that came later, the white team, competed head to head on a 2-mile mountain bike ride, 7-mile kayak trip and 1.5-mile hike for a prize of $5,000 for the charity of their choice. Both teams agreed, no matter who won, the Salvation Army would get the money. (The red team proudly noted they won.)
The group presented the check to local Salvation Army members last week.
“You guys do such good work in the community,” Sterger said. “When people call us and they don’t know what to do, we give them the number to the Salvation Army and we know they’re going to get taken care of.”
Salvation Army Capt. Jose Borrero said the money can help the Vineland organization buy more equipment, have more food available and train more people so they’re available when an emergency arises.
“People don’t know how much this $5,000 can do for the Salvation Army and community of Cumberland County,” he said. “We really want to thank Calvary Chapel for what they did.”
“It was definitely the trip of a lifetime,” McNeil said.
Anthony Ippolito loved singing “America the Beautiful” at the bottom of the Grand Canyon before they kayaked on the Colorado River.
Coyle spoke about how beautiful the state is.
Mike Ippolito said even after the trip, the best moment came when they presented the money to the Salvation Army. “I know I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time to give them the check,” he said.
“It was cool to be able to give back when you’re given to,” Vasquez added.
The travelers agreed they’re thankful for the experience, which Daubenspeck dubbed “a chance we couldn’t fathom.” They recounted their favorite moments of the trip after services recently, laughing as they recalled the film crews calling them “the talent.”
Sterger loved the experience, but noted he secretly wished he could take home one of the Explorers. Each team had an Explorer to drive between destinations, but the experience was the $5,000 prize, not the vehicle.
Now that the adventure is over, he’s back to looking for a new car.
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