Crossroads Fellowship was established by our Founding Pastor, Mike McLaughlin, in 2004. Mike and his wife Charlotte, faithfully served our church until May 2013. Justin Edgar joined our church as an apprentice in December 2010 with the Southwest Church Planting Network with hopes of planting another PCA church in Albuquerque. However, as the Lord called the McLaughlins home to Missouri, He also called the Justin to be our next Lead Pastor.
Justin began serving as the pastor of Crossroads in 2013. We moved from the downtown area of the city to the Nob Hill/International District area of the city. We then moved to the corner of San Mateo and Copper. Our name changed from Crossroads Fellowship to City Presbyterian Church.
In January 2024, Justin and his family received a new call to a church in North Carolina. City Pres has since been in the pastoral search process and anticipates a beautiful new chapter of loving our city under the leadership of a new senior pastor.
City Pres ABQ is a church in the urban heart of Albuquerque. We bridge the neighborhoods of Nob Hill and the International District. Our city is a great city full of great food and great people. We also have the best weather. But there is also brokenness in our city. We see that brokenness in homes, in schools, in our government, in our neighborhoods and in our businesses. These broken places are marked by the absence of love. We believe a church that exists for its own sake is just a club, not a church. So, we are compelled because of God’s great love to step into these places of absence. Our desire is to be a faithful presence of love in the absences of our city. We do this as a community. As we love God, love people, love the city, we hope our lives and the lives of those in Albuquerque will be changed. That the absence of love will be full of the presence of love through the person and work of Jesus.
We have named our church City Pres ABQ because we are a church that exists for the city. We exist to love Albuquerque. Knowing and loving can be a great challenge. Have you noticed that? Sometimes the more we know, the harder it is to love what we know. You moved here, and in that first year, your car got broken into, you lost your job, your electric bill was so much higher because you have to run the AC so much, you’re allergic to Juniper, people drive a little wonky, etc. When you know these things, the challenge is to keep loving. It’s hard to know and love. We want to know Albuquerque, and we want to keep on loving it. We are also Presbyterian. This just means that we are connected to a larger body or network of churches called the Presbyterian Church in America. So we are City Pres ABQ. Regardless of where you might be in your journey, whether you are a Burqueno, a newcomer to the Southwest, whether you’re Presbyterian, Baptist, Non-Denom, or a None, a church goer, a church avoider, someone here to stay, or someone just visiting, you are welcome here. Join us on Sundays at 10:00 at 210 Truman Rd. NE.
Why the Rooster?
Throughout history the church has included the rooster in it’s architecture and art. We too have taken up the rooster as a reminder of Peter’s denial and subsequent gracious restoration by Jesus. We believe that all who follow Jesus, like Peter, are witnesses in spite of our own personal failings, because Jesus loves and is merciful to us. Just like Peter & the disciples we are restored from our ways of denying, deserting, and doubting in the cross of Jesus. The rooster has also been used as a symbol of hope in the darkness; a herald of the dawn. We believe that the resurrection of Jesus secures hope, though there is darkness all around and even inside us, dawn is coming. We, like the rooster, and even more like fallen and restored Peter, are hopeful proclaimers of the dawning of restoration for all our brokenness and sorrows in Jesus.
The rooster is kind of startling though, right? As far as church logos go, it's different... but it's not random. The reason we as a church want to "rep the rooster" is so that when someone asks, "Why is there a rooster on your water bottle, T-shirt, car, lap top?" We can have an answer. It's a more involved conversation than just, "Oh, uhm...that's my church mascot." There is history behind the rooster, it opens up the conversation of our need for a Savior, Jesus' restoring work on the cross, and the hope this offers to a broken world. So, we hope you'll take the free decals and display them proudly, use the free invite cards to spread the word, and wear the T-shirts as an opportunity to casually and intentionally do the ministry of bringing people in, through the avenue of starting conversations about the not-so-random rooster.