Fil-Am Baptist Church began as a small Bible study group in 1993 and soon moved their church meetings to Mesa at the Association of Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, now the Valley Rim Association. In 1996, Pastor Joel Padilla began as their pastor, and in 2000 the congregation moved to their current church location at the corner of McClintock Drive and Don Carlos Avenue in Tempe.

Fil-Am Baptist Church is one of over 300 Filipino Southern Baptist churches in 26 states. We are a multi-ethnic congregation comprised of not only Filipinos, but also African-Americans, Caucasians, and other Asian groups such as Chinese. The primary aim, however, is to reach first and second generation Filipinos living in the East Valley area. In order to reach Filipinos, an in-depth knowledge and understanding of Filipino history, culture, languages, and values is required. Since the majority of the church body is Filipino, it is a great advantage to use the rich Filipino cultural understanding which our church members possess to reach out to other Filipinos. Fil-Am Baptist Church also seeks to reach out to people of other ethnicities, not only those who are related to or friends of Filipinos, but anyone who is open to worshipping with and learning about Filipinos and their culture. It is in this way that Fil-Am Baptist Church seeks to reach out to world around us.