New Mexico

Just a scenic 30 minute drive from the Albuquerque International Airport, brings visitors to the rural village on Tijeras in Bemalillo County. The community name derives from Spanish for "scissors," for the shape of two canyons crossing like the blades of scissors.

For the adventurous, downtown Santa Fe is a beautiful 75 minute drive on the historic Turquoise Trail through the picturesque villages of Madid and Cerrillos. Enjoy this relaxing day trip of site seeing, art galleries, photo Op’s, great restaurants and other unexpected delights!

The Tijeras area is a vacationers dream! View the countryside as you drive east from Albuquerque on Interstate 40 through "the canyon" as you enter the East Mountain area. Be amazed how the scenery changes dramatically from flat, high desert rock and cactus, to hilly, very green terrain punctuates by an abundance of Juniper, Pinon and Ponderosa Pine., as you climb from an altitude of 5200 feet above sea level, to over 6500 feet, and feel a 5 to 10 degree drop in air temperature. While in Albuquerque, don’t miss one of the longest tram rides in the world! more >>

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - In some parts of the country, a balmy September afternoon might be spent picking pumpkins or apples.

But in this corner of New Mexico, people have flocked to Joe Lujan's "you-pick" farm in Las Cruces for the past 45 years to hand-pick chili peppers.

Nestled between pecan groves and surrounded by desert, Joe Lujan Farms is 40 acres filled with five varieties of chili as well as squash, okra, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, cucumbers and a small pecan orchard. more >>

Correction appendedA pastor spent an entire week living on the roof of a local business in New Mexico to raise funds for African orphans for Sunday’s National Day of Care.

Dr. Mike Hattabaugh, founding pastor of Gathering Community Church in Farmington, N.M., lived outdoors this past week on the roof of Treadworks, a tire company, in New Mexico.

“It is hard to wrap your arms around 15 million orphans [in Africa],” said Hattabaugh, who is also director of the National Day of Care, to The Christian Post in an earlier interview. “That’s bigger than a lot of states in the United States. That’s like eight New Mexico’s just full of orphans. It is just hard to grasp that.” more >>

A pastor in New Mexico will be living on the roof of a local restaurant to raise awareness and funds for children in need and orphans in Africa starting on Monday.

The Rev. Dr. Michael Hattabaugh will set up camp on top of a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Albuquerque, Nov. 12-18, as part of the “Get Mike Down” project to remind people that millions of children need “a roof over their heads.”

“It is hard to wrap your arms around 15 million orphans [in Africa],” said Hattabaugh, director of the National Day of Care. “That’s bigger than a lot of states in the United States. That’s like eight New Mexico’s just full of orphans. It is just hard to grasp that. more >>

Southern Baptists are introducing a new “twentysomething” initiative this week to get more college students onto a career path in missions rather than a short-term experience.

Hundreds of students have joined National Collegiate Week, Aug. 4-10, at LifeWay Conference Centers in Glorieta, N.M., and Ridgecrest, N.C., where seminary recruiters and mission agencies have set up booths to bring more young people into their loop. And coming out for the first time is the "Hands On" project, a new initiative of the International Mission Board (IMB) – the international mission agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"Hands On," which is still in its development stages, aims to recruit college students to serve 4-12 months in mission work overseas. Students will use their own interests, skills or school major in community development projects, meeting human needs or working on university campuses. more >>

Homosexual couples from New Mexico can “marry” in Massachusetts. But those who do must be prepared to live with uncertainty, gay “marriage” advocates cautioned Thursday.

Massachusetts officials ruled earlier this month that same-sex couples from New Mexico are now eligible to tie the knot in Massachusetts which is the only state that allows same-sex "marriage." New Mexico joins Rhode Island as the only states whose gay residents can “marry” in Massachusetts.

A July 18 notice instructed Massachusetts' city and town clerks to give licenses to gay couples from New Mexico because the Southwestern state does not explicitly ban marriage between parties of the same gender. It does not, however, endorse it either. more >>