by Abram Kim
“It’ll pretty much be the funnest thing you’ve ever done.” (Pastor Patrick)
“What is a car rally? Well, it’s where we get into cars and rally together!” (Lillian To)
October 9, 2010 was a historic day in Lighthouse Singles Ministry history. That day witnessed the craziness that is the car rally for the first time in the Singles Ministry. Pastor Patrick had planned car rallies for College Life in the past, and those have become things of legend. Now it had finally come to Single Life!
Almost 40 guys and gals from the Singles ministry spent the morning and afternoon scouring the depths of San Diego to figure out clues and take silly pictures. You see, the car rally is a photo scavenger hunt that takes you to different locations in San Diego. Pastor Patrick and Randy Tsuchiyama planned the event to take the participants to four well-known locations throughout San Diego with a variety required and optional tasks at each location. The tasks involved finding unique and iconic items or places at each site and having your group take a picture there, as well as doing something silly as well.
The car rally participants gathered at church at 10am. During Bible Study the night before, each of the ten teams were given a costume theme, and Saturday morning showcased some creative outfits for themes ranging from “backwards” and “Hawaiian” to “80s” and “Hollywood.” And of course, who could forget the “superheroes?”
At the start of the car rally, each car received a large envelope that contained four smaller envelopes with clues to the four locations, which turned out to be Old Town, Balboa Park, Horton Plaza, and Seaport Village. We were allowed to use any resource we could think of to solve the clues and find the places where we needed to take pictures. We also had to have lunch together at a sit-down restaurant and answer three questions designed to share more about yourself with the rest of your team. Pastor Patrick admitted that the car rally was designed so that we wouldn’t be able to finish in the time allotted, and most of the cars did not get to all four locations.
Regardless of each team’s result, the four hours spent together by those in the same car were certainly time well spent with one another. Obviously there was the time in the car and during lunch when we had the opportunity to get to know each other better. But the car rally also provided unique opportunities to reveal random facts people knew, to see how people deal with pressure and competition, and to work together as a team.
All the photos (and even video) taken during the car rally from all 10 cars were compiled and made into a slideshow to view once all the teams got back to church around 2pm. The video of E. Park’s team dancing at Balboa Park was particularly funny! (I tried finding it on YouTube but no luck yet.) Points have been tallied and the winners were announced last Friday during Bible study. Regardless of the fact that only one team won, everyone had a memorable and enjoyable time!
Pastor Patrick already has already begun to plan the next two car rallies, so stay tuned and be sure to sign up when the opportunity presents itself!
In short:
- Gasoline for driving all around San Diego: $15
- Lunch at a local San Diego restaurant: $10
- Fellowship with 2-3 of your new best friends at church for 4 hours: Priceless