Hope Lutheran Church sits on the north side of Eagle, Idaho, in a single campus at 331 North Linder Road, where a small ELCA congregation has built a two-service Sunday rhythm and a weekday food pantry that serves neighbors from across the Treasure Valley. The congregation is known locally for two things in particular: its side-by-side traditional and contemporary worship services on Sunday morning, and the Give Hope Food Pantry, a drive-thru operation that opens three mornings a week to anyone in need. Beyond those weekly anchors, the church hosts a calendar of family, youth, creation-care, and community-building events that ranges from a Live Nativity in December to a Bitterbrush Planting in the Boise foothills in the spring.
Two Sunday Services, Two Musical Styles
Hope Lutheran offers two services each Sunday at its Linder Road campus, deliberately shaped to give neighbors a real choice in how they worship.
The 8:30 a.m. service is the traditional Lutheran worship of the church. Music leans on the historic Lutheran hymn tradition and is meant to reflect God's love and shape the congregation's response of praise. Music Director Matt Roos and Traditional Worship Leader John Sloan help lead this service.
The 10:30 a.m. service is the band-led service. Music here is contemporary and upbeat, with a band and a rotation of vocalists that includes people of all ages. The service is the more family-friendly of the two and regularly includes a children's message as part of the liturgy. Both services share the same lectionary-based preaching and follow the Narrative Lectionary, a four-season sequence of readings that walks through the biblical story from week to week.
Worship is livestreamed on YouTube, and recordings of past services are available there for anyone who cannot attend in person. Sunday morning coffee and treats follow each service in the fellowship hall, and visitors are invited to stop by the welcome center just outside the sanctuary on the way out and pick up a small gift.
The Give Hope Food Pantry
The clearest expression of the congregation's mission statement - "Hope, as the engaged hands and feet of Christ, feeds our community's spiritual and physical needs, embracing all" - is the Give Hope Food Pantry, which operates out of the church building three days a week.
The pantry is set up as a drive-thru on the west side of the property. Clients are invited to come once a month, with no pre-registration required, and to follow the signs around to the back of the building to find the start. Hours are Monday through Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The pantry is closed Thursday through Saturday and on Christmas Day, but it is open on every other holiday of the year.
The pantry is a partner in Church World Service's broader hunger network and follows USDA non-discrimination practices. Most-needed items include canned fruits and vegetables, grains such as pasta, rice, oats and cereals, proteins like canned or dried beans, nuts, canned meats and peanut butter, boxed or canned milk and milk alternatives, and pantry staples such as cooking oils, flour, baking powder, baking soda, dried herbs, spices and sugar. During office hours, donors can place food in the cart in the entryway or on the donation table next to the inner food-pantry door. Outside office hours, a donation bin sits next to the outer food-pantry door. Food Pantry Director Sunshine Evetts oversees the operation.
Children and Youth at Hope
Children are welcome at either Sunday service. The 10:30 band-led service is the more kid-friendly of the two, with a children's message built into the liturgy and an activity table that kids are invited to use during the sermon. The congregation's stated approach is to accept children as they are - noisy, wiggly, and all. Parents who are concerned about restless little ones are reassured that the room is built for exactly that.
Children's Faith Formation, the church's Sunday School program, meets monthly on a Sunday morning between services. Classes run roughly from 9:30 to 10:20 a.m., and the program intentionally keeps children of all ages together in one room rather than splitting them by grade, so siblings stay together and families with more than one child do not have to choose. Lessons pair a Bible story with an art project or hands-on activity, and the curriculum rotates through the church year - the Easter story in spring, the miraculous signs of Jesus in February, Jesus as a child in the temple in November and January, John the Baptist in October, and the Lord's Prayer in September. A Christmas Pageant video is a fixture of December.
The youth ministry, called Young Disciples, gathers the church's older students around shared retreats, fellowship, and connection to the wider ELCA. The youth recently traveled to the ELCA National Youth Gathering, and the church participates in synod-level youth events as well.
Music, Worship Leadership, and the Narrative Lectionary
Music is a defining feature of the church. Matt Roos serves as Music Director and leads the contemporary band, while John Sloan leads the traditional music at the early service. People of all ages assist in leading worship at the 10:30 service, which gives the congregation a multigenerational feel in the band.
The preaching schedule at Hope follows the Narrative Lectionary, a four-season series of readings that walks the congregation through the biblical story in a more chronological shape than the historic three-year lectionary. Sundays are organized around the same readings at both services, which keeps the two very different musical experiences in conversation with one another.
Mission, Vision, and Core Values
Hope Lutheran adopted its current mission and vision statements into the congregation's constitution in 2025. The mission reads: "Hope, as the engaged hands and feet of Christ, feeds our community's spiritual and physical needs, embracing all." The vision is for Hope to be "a center of the community that leads to caring relationships including people we have not yet met."
The five core values that frame the congregation's life are short and concrete. Because the congregation believes it is loved, it loves unconditionally. Because it has been accepted as it is, it accepts others as they are. Because of God's grace, it is rooted in faith that calls it to reach out and share its gifts with all. Because God created all, it cares for and loves all creation. Because it has hope, it courageously engages in God's plan for the future.
Caring Conversations and Pastoral Care
Hope runs a Caring Conversation Series, a Saturday-morning program that opens difficult subjects in a faith-based setting with lunch included. Past sessions have included "How to Be a Resilient Caregiver" and "Journeying through Grief," led by Rev. Barbara Harrison Condon, a grief and bereavement practitioner. The series covers loss of a loved one, loss of a job, loss of a relationship, life transitions, illness and surgery, and the kind of grief that comes from larger events in the news. A future session is planned around Stephen Ministry, the ELCA's one-to-one lay caring ministry, which the congregation is exploring launching.
The Blue Christmas service, held on the longest night of the year, is another pastoral-care offering. It is built as a quiet, contemplative space for people to name the losses, disappointments, loneliness and fears of the previous year and to remember that they are not alone in their hurt.
Men, Women, and the Rhythm of the Year
Two adult fellowship groups meet regularly. The Men of Hope gather for breakfast several times a year on Saturday mornings, and the Ladies of Hope meet for brunch. Both are casual gatherings built around food and conversation.
Several annual events give the church calendar its shape. The Live Nativity in December is staged indoors with live animals so that even a cold Idaho afternoon is comfortable. A Blue Christmas service follows a few days later, and Christmas Eve brings three candlelight services at 3:00, 5:30, and 10:00 p.m., each with special music and candlelight at the conclusion. Back to School Blessing in August marks the start of the school year. Blessing of the Animals on the west lawn in early October welcomes pets and their owners for a short service outdoors. The Annual Holiday Bazaar in November fills the building with artisans, baked goods, cinnamon rolls and soup lunch, with proceeds split between the Give Hope Food Pantry and the Meridian Food Bank Backpack Food Program for the West Ada School District.
The congregation also gathers outside the building. The Hope Retreat at Luther Heights Camp, a three-hour drive into the Sawtooth Mountains, takes place over a fall weekend with cabin lodging, meals, campfire, smores, optional hikes, fishing at Alturas Lake, and outdoor Sunday worship. Cost assistance is available through the church for families and kids. Closer to home, the Bitterbrush Planting partners with Idaho Fish and Game to restore native shrub habitat on a site burned by the previous summer's wildfires, with carpooling from the church and on-site training provided. Each fall Hope also fields a team for the Ada County CROP Hunger Walk, a three-mile route through Julia Davis Park that raises money for Church World Service and the Idaho Foodbank.
Creation Care and Wider Mission
Care for creation runs through more than one program at Hope. The Bitterbrush Planting is the most hands-on expression. The annual Climate Conference, built around the Blessed Tomorrow curriculum, is a Saturday program designed to help the congregation connect climate issues to spiritual values and daily life. God's Work. Our Hands., the ELCA's annual day of service, fills a Sunday at Hope each September with the assembly of care kits for shut-ins, blessing bags for people experiencing homelessness, and Lutheran World Relief personal care kits that are shipped to communities in need around the world.
Hope also walks with the wider ELCA. The congregation is part of the Northwest Intermountain Synod ELCA and has joined the synod for the Boise Pride Parade, marching alongside other congregations in the synod's entry as a public expression of welcome. The synod and Luther Heights also host a shared booth at the Pride Festival that follows the parade.
Leadership and Staff
Pastor Mark Behrendt serves as Head Pastor and is the primary preaching voice at both Sunday services. Pastor Mark and his wife Lisa are regulars at the Hope Retreat at Luther Heights. Matt Roos directs music across the congregation and leads the band at the 10:30 service, while John Sloan leads the traditional music at the 8:30 service. Sunshine Evetts directs the Give Hope Food Pantry. Amanda Miller serves as Office Manager and is often the first point of contact for visitors and newcomers, and she also coordinates the church's text groups for events like the Pride Parade.
Planning a First Visit
Visitors can pick either Sunday service and participate at whatever comfort level feels right. The church invites people to sing heartily or simply nod along, to pray with hands raised or resting at their sides, and to wear jeans or dress up. After either service, the fellowship hall is open with food and conversation.
Children are welcome in worship at both services, and the 10:30 service is set up with a children's message and an activity table for kids. The Give Hope Food Pantry is open to anyone in the community on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; no pre-registration is required. Those who cannot attend in person can watch the livestream on YouTube. Giving is available online through a secure giving portal.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and can be reached at (208) 939-9181. The church follows the Narrative Lectionary throughout the year, so visitors on any given Sunday will hear the same scripture texts as ELCA congregations across the country that use the same lectionary.