ministry makeover

A rural Nevada pastor and his family get a boost from ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

By NEVADA MAGAZINE | March/April 2008

Photo: PR (West Haven Development Group)

Steve Boettcher’s church is unlike any you’ve ever seen. It lacks pews, prayer books, and walls. In their stead, horsepower, leather, and two wheels help Steve and his “Soul’d Out Ministries” spread the word. Now, with a little help from ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Steve and his family can connect with more people in need of inspiration and guidance.

A garage door installer by trade and biker by hobby, the 51-year-old and his wife, Mary, started the organization to involve bikers of all kinds—from highway patrolmen to Hells Angels—in charitable rides for multiple sclerosis, holiday toy drives, and other causes.

The pair is heavily involved in the lives of local teens. Their Silver Springs home is in a community where Mary, a prevention strategist for a nonprofit organization that teaches kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, has seen an average of three teens lost a year to alcohol and suicide. The Boettchers turned their garage into a ministry and youth center to curb this disturbing statistic.

Teens from around the neighborhood meet in the garage to play pool and music, pray, or just hang out. The couple even provides their dozens of young guests with food. For years the Boettchers helped struggling kids avoid drugs and alcohol, helping many of them down paths that, in some cases, eventually led to college.

Steve and Mary have also met the challenge of helping their own family. Their daughter, Stephanie, 20, and her son, Joshua, live with the couple. Joshua, 18 months, has a respiratory illness that requires round-the-clock care.

On January 11, the family received local and national recognition. ABC’s reality series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition caught wind of the Boettchers’ story and their charitable work and decided to help. Over the next three days, the family’s three-bedroom singlewide trailer was demolished to make way for a new home and a space for the teens who depend on the Boettchers’ kindness. With the help of local builder West Haven Development Group and hundreds of volunteers, Ty Pennington and his ABC crew completed the new home in just one week.

Freezing fog and frigid temperatures did little to dissuade the builders from completing their task, and on January 18, the Boettchers were handed the keys to their new home and 1,200-square-foot youth center. The makeover episode featuring the Boettcher family is scheduled to air March 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC.