The Fil-Am Christian Church of Fredericksburg, Va., is the first Filipino-American church to associate with the Fellowship, and has quickly become one of CBF’s most diverse congregations.

"This congregation has ties to other Filipino congregations that may be considering a relationship with CBF," said Rick Clore, coordinator for CBF of Virginia. "Fil-Am Christian Church has the very real potential to open the door for others to affiliate with CBF."

Fil-Am Christian Church has a regular Sunday attendance of around 80. "We have probably averaged 90 percent attendance from the beginning, truly remarkable," said Charlie Chilton, who helped start the church.

Chilton is the retired founding pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Woodbridge, Va., and was a missionary to the Philippines from 1970-77. Although he had to leave the missions field due to an illness, Chilton’s work in the Philippines and his fluency in Tagalog would prepare him for a new missions field in Virginia, where he would plant several Filipino-American churches, including Fil-Am Christian Church.

After Chilton retired from Grace Baptist Church and moved to Orange County, he was asked to lead a Bible study at a friend’s home. Chilton had checked the census numbers for Fredericksburg and the surrounding counties, and found a population of 5,000 Filipinos. "I told him I would come if he could get any Filipinos to attend," Chilton said.

Thirteen people showed up for the Bible study, and Chilton gave each of them a Bible written in Tagalog. "We decided to do Bible study every Friday night. During that year following, each one of those thirteen accepted Christ and requested believer’s baptism," Chilton said.

Sue Judy was one of those 13. "Fil-Am Christian Church is very important to me because this is where I found Jesus, who has given me a new meaning of life and my best opportunity to grow spiritually," Judy said.

In November 2001 that small group decided to start having Sunday services, and the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Fredericksburg agreed to let them use their facility. In November 2002, they decided to officially organize as Fil-Am Christian Church and affiliate with CBF.

"We continued to grow and needed a larger space and the Friendship Baptist Church of Fredericksburg invited us to share their facility," Chilton said. "We moved there in January 2004 and have increased on all fronts in ministry and organization."

And this September their new pastor, Gil Diokno, arrived to lead the church toward its vision. "Our vision is to grow and grow in impact on this community and the world," Chilton said.