Police cars in front of the house.

My mind is still spinning as I constantly ask myself the question…why?  Why would a father shoot his own daughter.  Two days ago only five blocks from my house, a father shot his 9-month-old daughter in the head in revenge for his girlfriend being unfaithful to him.  (Read the story here)  I found out the vague information from one of my neighbors and friends as news helicopters where circling the neighborhood.  My heart broke today as I read the full news story of what had happened.

I’ve known for awhile the dirty soul that lies within Albuquerque.  My pastor has said that Albuquerque is a city that is so beautiful on the outside, but dirty when you take a closer look.  I couldn’t agree more.  We have the Sandia mountains, amazing sunsets, deep culture, incredible food, and stunning art.  When you look closer though you see our high crime, fatherlessness, drug abuse, drunk driving, and list goes on and on.

But the dirty underside use to be a distant aspect of Albuquerque to me.  That was until we moved into our neighborhood about a year ago.  I love our neighborhood.  It is a socio-economic, life stage, ethnic, and linguistic mixture of Albuquerque.  The neighborhood has retired couples and newly weds buying their first homes.  It has migrant workers that are trying to give their kids the life they never could.  The school across the street from me is bilingual to accommodate english, spanish, and bilingual students.  There is an active neighborhood association.  One of the main bike routes for the city runs right in front of my house.   It is also part of the International District of Albuquerque.

If I didn’t tell you anymore, you would think I lived in a picturesque suburban neighborhood.  But when you take a closer look, you see something quite different.  It’s called the International District because it use to be called the War Zone and the city didn’t think that helped with PR.  The park across the street that is part of the elementary school is used by prostitutes at night to service Johns.  This was made very clear to me when our Community Group pick up trash a few months ago and threw away over 15 condoms.  While riding my bike, there have been a few times that I’ve nearly ran over hypodermic needles.  I live less than a mile from a gay cowboy bar (I don’t even know how that works).  Five cars were stolen in the neighborhood last month and now homicide can be added to the list.

I live in this weird tension of loving and hating the neighborhood that I live in.  I love the progress and culture of my neighborhood, but hate the sin and depravity that is here.  The thing that keeps me from selling my house and moving to suburbia though is Jesus.  In a weird way, I love knowing that I live in a neighborhood in Albuquerque that needs the gospel the most.

Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” – Mark 2:17

Instead of getting mad when I find used condoms by the curb, I find hope.  I know that I’m in a neighborhood that needs Jesus.  I know the gospel gets to shine the brightest in the darkest of places.  My heart is breaking for the family of the little girl that was shot.  My hands are shaking in grief and anger as I type right now.  I take peace in knowing that the full wrath of God will be poured out on the man that shot that beautiful little girl.  But I ultimately hope that for the man to trust in Jesus so that wrath that he rightly deserves will be taken out on the cross.

Please pray with me for my neighborhood.  That God would be glorified as family after family are changed by Jesus.  Pray for me that God will open doors in this neighborhood for the gospel to be proclaimed.  Pray that God would send and raise up more leaders to reach this neighborhood.

As you saw from my post on Monday, I am in the begining stages of planting a church in Uptown Albuquerque, NM.  Over the past few years I have made some good friends who are also planning on planting churches in Albuquerque and across the U.S.  I thought I would take the next few days to introduce you to these guys so you can pray for them and follow them as they are on their own respective journeys.

Carlos Griego

I met Los a couple of years ago when we were going through Ed Stetzer’s book “Planting Missional Churches” at City on a Hill.  He is the director of the college ministry, The Well, for Desert Springs Church here in Albuquerque and is the chaplain for the Lobo basketball team.  He is an amazing husband, fantastic father, big reader, and a true UFC fan.

For as long as I’ve known him, Los has had a huge heart for the UNM campus area and Downtown Albuquerque.  His heart is to one day plant a church that will reach the lost of Downtown Albuquerque for the glory of God.

If you are interested in learning more about Los and his ministry, you can meet him at the Well every Tuesday night at 8:07 pm at Desert Springs Church.  You can also read his blog or follow him on twitter.

I’m going to come out and say this…I have a man crush on Moses.  Of all the men in the Bible, I have always found myself drawn to Moses.  I truly think this is a God thing.  Because of all the men in the Bible, I relate to Moses the most.

We’re both miracle babies (my mom wasn’t suppose to physically be able to have children).  We’re both overly ambitious (although I haven’t killed anybody…yet).  We’re not the “bestest” of speakers.  God has used trials, tribulations, and time to prepare us for our callings.  Most importantly, I feel like God has given me the same clarification on my calling that He gave Moses.

In Exodus 3, God tells Moses that He is going to use him to deliver His people out of Egypt.  Moses’ response is the same as any person who has a great calling put before them,  “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”   Moses is scared, perplexed, shaken and lacking confidence.  How could a screwed up man like him complete such a large task after he had failed so many years before?  He has been hiding in the desert for 40 years, and he is looking to God for a sign to give him confidence in his calling.

God’s response is classic.  He doesn’t give him some pep talk about how awesome Moses is and how God has been preparing him 40 years for this very moment.  Instead God tells him, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

This one verse has been the summation of my entire calling.  October 27 of this last year marked the 10 year anniversary of God calling me to vocational ministry.  I have known since then that God is calling me to serve Him as my full-time job.  And as I have sought Him for clarification of the years, His sign has always been the same.  It’s not a pillar of smoke or fire, or a damp towel on my front porch, or a star in the east.  Instead God has quietly told me He will be with me, and I’ll know I’ve fulfilled my calling when I look back and see that I’ve fulfilled my calling.

For this reason, I have never really looked forward to try and figure out what God wants me to do.  Instead I’ve looked backwards to see what Jesus has done in my life to determine where He wants me to go next.

By looking at the last 10 years of my life, I can see that Jesus has been moving me towards pinnacle moment in my life.  In college, I went on a mission trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for two-and-a-half months.  My main point of contact there was the head of the Purpose Driven Church Planting movement in Rio.  Him and others spoke into my life saying they saw in me great potential to plant churches in my future.  I filed the information deep in the recesses of my brain and went on with my life.

I came back to Eastern New Mexico University, started a interdenominational Bible study with my best friend, married the most beautiful woman in the world, graduated, and got a job as a youth minister in a small town in the panhandle of Texas.  It was during my time as a youth minister that God stirred the memories of Brazil in my head and moved in my heart.

I don’t remember the day or the time, but I remember the intense emotions and distinct clarity.  I knew that God wanted me to plant a church.  So I did what any young ambitious newly married kid does only a year-and-a-half out of college, I turned in my two week notice and made plans to move to Portland, OR (motivated by the book Blue Like Jazz).

When reality snapped to, we figured out that we had no jobs, no place to live, and no friends in Portland.  Therefore we did what every young ambitious church planter does, we packed up all our stuff and temporarily moved into my mother-in-law’s house in Albuquerque, NM.  It was going to be our half-way point on the way to Portland

We tried our best to find a way to get to Portland, but God kept shutting the doors.  And the longer that we stayed in Albuquerque, the more Jesus opened my eyes to the beauty of this city and broke my heart with the sin of its people.  In the quiet of our hearts, God showed us that He had other men for Portland, but He wanted us to stay here in Albuquerque.

As Shannon and I began to settle into Albuquerque, getting jobs and a home of our own, we started looking for a church that we call home while we prepared to plant.  We scoured hundreds of church websites and visited numerous in person.  We began to get so discouraged by what we found.  And as time went on, we began to see why God wanted us to plant a church in Albuquerque.

But like a diamond in the rough, we came across a small church that was meeting in a run down theater on Central Ave, City on a Hill (now Mars Hill Church Albuquerque). The church was a place of love, grace, and mercy as you would see the rich rub elbows with homeless and the messed up mingle with the self-righteous.  The pastor, Dave Bruskas, had planted the church only a few years earlier and had a heart to help young men plant churches in Albuquerque.  He had a deep love for the city and an even deeper love for Jesus.  His passion was infectious (and still is to this day).

It was during this time that a few things happened.  First, I felt like God told me to wait.  I had some growing up to do, and like the disciples, I needed to go up to my room and wait for the Holy Spirit to come.  Second, I learned about Acts 29, Mars Hill, and Mark Driscoll.  Through them I learned what it means to be a church planter and more importantly a husband and father.  Third, I got a job with UPS doing sales.  By working for UPS, I have traveled all over Albuquerque (and half the state of NM).  I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of this city.

But one area has always stood out to me as I make my daily visits to customers.  Uptown has to be one of the more unique areas of Albuquerque.  If Nob Hill is the cultural hub of  Albuquerque, I would say that Uptown is the socio-economic center. You have the wealthy and affluent who come to work in the high rises and play at Q Mall, but there are also the gang-bangers who come from the War Zone to roam the Coronado Mall.  You won’t find another place in Albquerque where more diverse group of people live, work, and play.  It has captured my heart (but more on this later).

The last thing that happened was I listened to a podcast that would change my thoughts on church planting for the rest of my life.  Up until this point I had planned on flying solo.  I was going to gather a small group of people and start our own church named after a weird latin term or vague Harry Potter incantation.  But God had other plans. As I listened to Doug Swagerty from Harbor Church in San Diego talk about why and how they do multi-site churches, God made it clear to me that this was His plan for me.

The organization, efficiency, and team-work that went into planting a campus as opposed to a new church spoke to the core of who God made me as a person.  It was then that I had determined that God didn’t want me to plant a church, but to plant another campus for City on a Hill in the Uptown area.  He wanted me to carry the vision and mission to another part of our beautiful city.

This brings us to this moment in time.  For the past three years, I feel like have been metaphorically sitting on the bench waiting for God to call me into the game.  Like Moses wandered in the dessert shepherding sheep for 40 years, God has been having me wander in the dessert waiting for His timing.  But as City on a Hill has made the transition to becoming Mars Hill Church Albuquerque, I feel like God has been calling my number.  The Holy Spirit has began to move fresh my heart, and I hear God saying, “Qualls…get in the game.”  I feel like God is calling me to be on mission with Jesus in Albuquerque as He reaches our city to impact a region to influence the world.

Working along side Dave Bruskas, we are looking to start a Mars Hill Church campus in the Albuquerque Uptown area.  Through Mars Hill’s campus model we hope to reach hundreds of thousands of people through preaching the gospel, planting Acts 29 Churches, and hosting Resurgence and Acts 29 events.

In preparation for this, I will be going to Re:Train starting on August 16th of this year.  Re:Train is a one year training center that trains “missional leaders to live for Jesus and lead their churches to effectively reach their cultures with the gospel by staying culturally accessible and biblically faithful.”  I see God using this training as a final step to prepare me for the mission put before me.

Looking back on the past ten years of my life, I can see how Jesus has been leading to this moment.  Each trial and tribulation has been there to bring me to this point in time.  He has led me here, and now He is telling me once again, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”  I don’t know exactly what the next few years entail.   But I know this, years from know there will be a Mars Hill Church in Uptown Albuquerque, and we will worship and serve our Lord Jesus on that mountain.

Here’s the deal though, I know I can’t do this alone.  And I know that I’m not the only person that God has called to do this.  I need all the help I can get.  More importantly, I need your help.  I completely believe in the sovereignty of God.  So if you have gotten through the 1841 words of this post to this point, I believe that God has a part for you in this.  I ultimately don’t know what that is for you (that’s between you and God), but I have a few suggestions.

1. Pray

I have seen God move in amazing ways through prayer.  I know that God chooses to work through the prayers of His people.  Therefore, I desperately ask for your prayers as I move forward with this endeavor.  Pray for me as I go through Re:Train.  Pray for God to bring laborers.  Pray for my family.  Pray for provision (finances, locations, volunteers, ect.).  Pray for a pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Albuquerque.

2. Join

Join in on the mission in Albuquerque.  As we get closer towards starting this, I will be getting out more information. For now this would simply mean joining the Mars Hill Church campus in Albuquerque.  Join a community group and start serving.  If you are interested in joining, email me, and we can start a conversation.

3. Give

Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. – Ecclesiastes 10:19

Unfortunately, it is going to take money to do this.  Fortunately, I know that God will provide.  He will use His people (you) to provide for the tasks that are ahead.  The biggest financial burden at the moment is Re:Train.  I need to raise $2,000 in the next five weeks.  This will pay for my first month of training, travel, lodging, and a basic laptop.  Please pray if God would have you support this task financially.  If you feel moved by God, you can use the ChipIn Widget below or email me and I will send you my mailing address.

I am excited to see what God is going to do in the next few years.  I look forward to sharing with you what God is doing as we go through this journey together.

Isn’t amazing how God works things out sometimes.  I’m not necessarily a chatty person when I’m flying.  I know there are some of you out there who look forward to taking flights just so you can talk to your seat mate.  I’m not that person.  I like to read or better yet sleep.  So I wasn’t looking for someone to chat with on the plane today.  But God has other plans.

After shoving my bag into the overhead storage I took my seat by the window.  My seat mate commented about how he ripped his bags on his way to Africa a few months ago and had to duct tape them back together for the rest of the trip.  Now you chatty types would see this as an opportunity to hop into a wonderful conversation about Africa and his trip.  I don’t do that…I smile, nod, and say, “That had to suck.”  I figure this is sympathetic, but keeps me from having to talk anymore.

But God has other plans.  A few minutes later, my seat mate asks if I’m originally from Seattle.  I told no that I live in Albuquerque and that I’m going to a conference in Seattle.  He asked what conference.  Now honestly I was thinking about lying and saying I was going to some UPS conference or something…but I decided to say that I was going to the Resurgence conference.  At this point he told me he was going to the same one.

After talking about the conference a little, he started telling me about his ministry.  He is part of a record label called Reach Records and a ministry called ReachLife.  And for the next hour he showed me videos and had me listen to audio that his ministry has produced.  I must say they are really using their culture to present the gospel in a way that people understand.  You need to check them out at http://www.reachlife.org/.  Pretty awesome stuff.

I told you yesterday that I didn’t get a picture with Obama…but I did get a video with the man.

Some of you know that I eventually plan to plant a church in Albuquerque. I’m just waiting on God’s timing and some good training before I do. So in the mean time I’ve been doing a lot of reading and listening to a lot of podcasts. Through reading and the direction of my pastor, I came across Acts 29 Network . These guys rock! If you are thinking about planting a church or have a friend who is, you really need to check them out. There are one of the first groups I’ve found who really stand for truth and love. I just thought I would give them a quick shout out.

So I went out and got the new David Crowder CD tonight. I’m listening through it right now as I’m typing. I must say that David Crowder is one of my favorite artists. Shannon and I already got tickets to his concert here in Albuquerque on October 9th. I can’t wait!

So yesterday was the largest snow day in Albuquerque in history (well that’s what they said on TV). I’m glad my parents got in before the started closing all the roads. Right now it seems that every road is closed in NM. I-40 is closed basically across the whole state. I-25 is closed. NM 60-84 is closed from Ft. Sumner to Clovis. You can read the whole story here. Read the rest of this entry »

So I-40 is closed from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque and my parents decided to stop Santa Rosa for the night before coming the rest of the way into Albuquerque. So they are now stuck in Santa Rosa with thousands of other people. You can check out the rest of the story here.