On a fall evening in October 1997 a handful of people gathered in the home of Dan and Tracy Lewis to pray about starting a new and different kind of church…a church for the un-churched. A place where people who were far from God would feel safe, ask their questions, and discover what it means to be fully devoted followers of Christ. SoulRio was God’s idea. Jesus said, “I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” And the Bible says, “He who began a good work in you will complete it.” God put a dream in their hearts as they gathered together on their knees in prayer. He began a work that night and He used some very regular people to step-out in extraordinary faith. SoulRio is all about ordinary people living out the purposes of God in a biblically functioning local church community. In 1998 public weekend services began and over the last ten years Soulrio reaches crowds of hundreds of adults, youth and children in weekend services.

In October of 2000, the staff and leaders became convinced that in order to really reflect the New Testament model of community, SoulRio would need to become a network made up of small communities all throughout our city, that live out God’s purposes. They decided to live out what they were learning about group life and take the time to experience it for themselves. They wanted to not just “teach” what they were learning, but to take the time to “catch” it and experience it, however long it would take. After 7 months, that first group gave birth to seven groups with seven God-called servant leaders. Those seven groups reflected the same values (DNA) of the first group. They all had a strong foundation of values for group life, and were empowered to live out those values as the New Testament church.  Those first groups have multiplied over the years to almost every neighborhood in Rio Rancho and Northwest Albuquerque.

Rio Links meet all throughout the week and Weekend Services are every Sunday at 10 a.m. at Southern Plaza (Northeast corner of Southern and Unser).