A summer group of recent SOWERs at Hope House in Marsing posed for a photo before leaving and heading down the road for another service assignment. The SOWERs travel to serve Christian ministries that may need carpentry skills, landscaping know-how, acumen with a paintbrush, or other talents that benefit the ministries for free. (Photo by Kimbra Shaw)
By Gaye Bunderson
Millions of Americans take to the road each year in their recreational vehicles, or RVs. They do it for kicks, sightseeing, and freedom from the daily routine. After all, that’s why the vehicles are called “recreational.” But there’s another group of RV travelers who are called SOWERs, and they travel for service. But make no mistake – there’s plenty of fun and fellowship involved as well.
SOWERs stands for Servants On Wheels Ever Ready, and the full name for the group is The SOWER Ministry. In the ’70s and ’80s, ministry founders Frank and Kathy Varga would travel the highways of America and offer assistance to other travelers. It occurred to them that groups of specifically Christian Revers were needed across the country to give of their time, talents, and faith to help the many Christian ministries across the land. The SOWER Ministry was incorporated on August 10, 1984.
Since then, many RVers have traveled through the country offering help to such faith-based organizations as Christian camps, rescue missions, group homes, and even Christian schools and colleges. A couples group, the works they perform include, for the men, constructing new buildings and renovating-repairing older ones; for the women, repairing worn blankets and clothing, sewing curtains and aprons as well as presenting craft projects and doing work in the kitchen; and putting a fresh coat of paint on exterior and interior surfaces frequently includes both men and women.
An area non-profit benefitting annually from SOWERs’ faithfulness and work ethic is Hope House, a home for children who are emotionally impaired, developmentally disabled, or who come from disrupted adoptions or dysfunctional families; it is located four miles south of Marsing. Since Hope House connected with The SOWER Ministry, many acts of service have been performed by the generally older and retired volunteers.
George and Carina Jump started with SOWERs in 2004 and traveled with the ministry for three years. The senior couple has now been on staff at Hope House on a permanent basis for five years. Carina stated their permanency at the non-profit started with God. “He said, ‘Move’,” Carina explained. And they did, making their home in the Treasure Valley and being actively involved in the goings-on at Hope House.
The Jumps have been married 42 years, and during their RV traveling days ventured to Oklahoma, Arizona, and Alaska. But, Carina declared, “Hope House is the love of our life.”
The Hope House structure, which was originally built in the late ’70s and early ’80s, had been condemned. When George showed up, he brought with him skills in carpentry – experience he wanted to put to use helping renovate and rebuild the Hope House structure.
Using a construction metaphor, Carina said, “God has a way of hitting you in the shins with a 2×4” when He wants believers’ attention to indicate what He has in mind for them. Hope House needed essential repairs to stay in operation, and George arrived on-scene with the skills to provide them.
Hope House’s original founder, Donna Velvick-Lowry, said to the Jumps all those years back: “Our prayers have been answered!”
Sure enough, George brought the building up to functional and safe standards again, and Hope House continues going strong in 2025.
More SOWERs have shown up over the intervening years, driving into the lot in their varieties of RVs. They may all show up in recreational vehicles, but their strongest common attribute is their faith. The application process for becoming a SOWER involves a written application that includes a testimony, a letter of recommendation from a pastor, a background check, and a personal interview.
John and Becky Ballard are from Pahrump in southern Nevada. John has done carpentry work, trade work, landscaping, yardscaping, weeding – and lots of painting. “Both men and women do a lot of painting,” Becky said. The Ballards have been to 12 sites since they started in SOWERs in 2021. Recently, after working in Marsing, they were heading to South Dakota and Montana. Said Becky: “We’ve met many wonderful people and we want others to know that Christianity is alive and well in this country. Christians are helping many children, and others.”
Wade and Anne Little from California referred to themselves as “primarily West Coast SOWERs”. They’ve been involved for four years and early this summer were helping Hope House’s school program – called Hope Christian Academy and situated on the Hope House Marsing campus – get ready for the academic year by covering the academy building with coats of paint, doing caulking, making repairs where needed, and performing general cleaning tasks as part of a SOWERs team.
Wade explained there is a group leader on each team, and those individuals have to have been on two mission trips to qualify for the group leader position.
He also explained, “We bring our own tools and have different skill levels. We are required to take a skill survey [before being accepted].”
SOWERs participate in a devotion at 7:30 a.m. workdays and pray for one another.
“Motorhome people generally serve themselves through the experience of traveling; SOWERs is a way to serve others using your motorhome – and you meet new friends,” Wade stated.
Ron and Debbe Mead heard about SOWERs years back but just became members as a couple a little over two years ago. “We are newlyweds doing the Lord’s work,” Ron said. They are from Jumal, Calif. and winter in Yuma, Ariz.
The work they have performed at various Christian sites across the U.S. include farming, animal care, and gardening. Ron jokes that they live “in the Garden of Eatin’.”
Debbe said they’ve “cut a lot of roses”, and Ron performed maintenance work.
“Being in SOWERs gives a purpose to your RV lifestyle,” Ron said.
Wade praised Ron as “legendary – he’s a 28-year military veteran, a jack of all trades, and was a firefighter.” Debbe was a special needs educator during her career, but said that’s not the kind of work she does now at Hope House. “We’re there to serve the staff; we’re there to help them with the things they don’t have time to do.”
Wade chimed in that, as volunteer SOWERs, “The bigger way we can help the students is to pray for them.”
And they definitely do.
The Meads also took a moment to explain the experience isn’t all work. “We have game night, sightseeing, and fellowship.” SOWERs are given time off each week to get to know the people and recreational opportunities that surround the sites where they are serving and camping in their RVs.
The SOWERs only stay in one place for three weeks. They then may return home or travel on to another site.
How valuable are SOWERs to the ministries they serve? Denae Warren, now the top executive at Destination Caldwell, said this about the RV travelers: “As a Hope House alumna and now board member, I’ve seen firsthand how the SOWERs embody love in action. Their willingness to show up – tools in hand and hearts wide open – has transformed not just campus buildings and property, but lives. Year after year, their volunteer work saves Hope House thousands of dollars in labor costs, allowing more resources to go directly to the kids. Their service is a powerful reminder that hope is something we build together.”
The SOWER Ministry is based in Texas. SOWERs hold rallies – usually in Texas – with classes to prepare them for service and with a chance for newer volunteers to meet and learn from the experienced ones.
For organizations who might need the SOWERs or for God’s faithful who would like to do more with their RVs than just tool down the road and burn a lot of gas, this could be just the thing. Go to sowerministry.org for more information.
