Mike Housholder, Senior Pastor

Mike grew up in a pastor’s family and lived in three states – Idaho, Montana, and Minnesota – before moving to the north side of Chicago, where he graduated from Taft High School in 1982. He headed north to Moorhead, Minnesota for college, and earned a B.A. magna cum laude with a double major in English and Communication from Concordia in 1986. Upon graduating, he took a job as an assistant golf pro at a Chicago area resort, and enjoyed it so much he almost made a career of it. Ultimately, however, Mike pursued the call to ordained ministry and enrolled at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, where he received a Master of Divinity in 1990. From 1990-1993, he served as the pastor of Palestine Lutheran in rural Huxley, a congregation that has been faithfully doing ministry since 1855.

In 1993, Mike became the new mission developer for Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa. Passionate about developing a church committed to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, he organized the new congregation upon the solid foundation of a Bible-based vision: to be a Spirited, Growing, and Christ-centered community filled with hope!

As the senior pastor at Hope, Mike has surrounded himself with an exceptionally gifted core group of pastors, staff and volunteer leaders. Doing church in teams and fueled by the Holy Spirit, Hope has completed five major building projects, launched two new satellite congregations, connected thousands of people to hundreds of small groups and discipleship classes, actively partnered with numerous Christian based local and global outreach ministries, and developed a multitude of effective ministries for children, families, singles, seniors, the hurting and the lost. Along the way, Hope has become one of the fastest growing churches in the nation, and more importantly a church that the Holy Spirit is using to bring thousands of people back to the Christian faith, teach them what it means to follow Jesus, and send them out together in mission to share God’s love for the world.

Recently, Mike was listed in Outreach Magazine’s ”25 Church Leaders to Watch,” and is a recipient of the “40 under 40” award from the Des Moines Business Record. He served on the original Core Leadership Team for Alpha USA, and is a current board member for Meals from the Heartland. Mike’s sermon podcasts are downloaded by thousands of people around the world. He enjoys speaking at church conferences and events outside of Hope, but limits those occasions to just one or two per year in an effort to fulfill his more important responsibilities as a family man and local parish pastor.

In his free time, Mike enjoys sports of almost any variety, and he still holds on to the dream that one day he will win the Daytona 500, or pitch for the Cubs in a World Series! Mike has been happily married to Sally since 1987, and they have three children.