Almost Two Centuries on Park Street
First Baptist Church has stood at 735 Park Street in Charlottesville since 1831, when twelve delegates walked in from Preddy Creek Baptist Church, preached for two days, baptized eighteen converts in the Rivanna River, and organized a new congregation of thirty-one members. Originally called Charlottesville Baptist Church, the body met in the local courthouse before adopting the name First Baptist at the turn of the last century. A devastating fire on February 2, 1977 destroyed the sanctuary, the education building, the memorial stained glass, and a magnificent organ, sending the brass bell, cast in the Netherlands in 1854, crashing from its steeple into the flames. The bell's broken pieces were shipped back to the Netherlands, recast, and returned to hang in the tower that rises above the present facilities, where worship resumed on June 25, 1978.
The church counts several Southern Baptist milestones among its own story. Lottie Moon, one of the first women appointed as a Southern Baptist foreign missionary, was baptized here in the 1850s and went on to serve nearly forty years in China. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering now draws participation from tens of thousands of Southern Baptist churches. In 1884 the first Baptist Young People's Union in Virginia, and likely the first in the Southern Baptist Convention, was organized by young people meeting at the church. In 1906 Mrs. Virginia Sinclair Hawes, a devout member, helped launch what would become Vacation Bible School as a national movement, a tradition the church still keeps every July.
Beliefs and Identity
First Baptist Church affirms the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a complete summary of its doctrinal convictions. The church partners nationally with the Southern Baptist Convention and locally with the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia. Its stated purpose is to glorify God by making disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ for the joy of all nations, a vision rooted in Matthew 28:18-20. Out of that purpose flow four commitments: joyful worship of God, growth in Christ through Bible study and prayer, witness to neighbors and nations, and sacrificial love within the body of believers.
Music is drawn from psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in the spirit of Colossians 3:16, blending congregational singing with choral and instrumental music. Worship Pastor Dale Fields, who joined the staff in 2017 and holds degrees from Liberty University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, leads a team that prizes what he calls cultivating biblical worshippers and loud congregational singing. The current music staff includes organist Dawn and keyboardist Doug, both longtime fixtures of the Sunday morning service.
Worship, Teaching, and the Interim Season
Sunday worship gathers at 10:45 a.m. in the sanctuary at 735 Park Street. The service opens with singing and prayer and centers on expository teaching from the Word of God. Visitors are not asked to stand, sign anything, or wear a name tag. Greeters meet them at the blue tent on the front lawn of the church, where a small gift and a personal welcome await. The sermon and full service are livestreamed on the First Baptist Park Street YouTube channel, and the archives extend back more than twenty years.
The church is currently in a season of pastoral transition. After Pastor Rob Pochek accepted a call to serve as Director of Evangelism and Prayer with the Missouri Baptist Convention, the Leadership Council invited Dr. Michael Fitzgerald to serve as Interim Teaching Pastor; the church affirmed his appointment by a 99 percent vote. A Pastor Search Committee, elected by a 96 percent vote of the congregation, has spent more than a year reviewing more than eighty applicants and has narrowed the field. The committee is preparing for Call Weekend on October 16-18, 2026. While the search continues, Pastors Dale Fields and Benji Hall have assumed many pastoral duties, and Church Administrator Bill Fulkerson coordinates weekly communication through the Tie newsletter and the Sunday bulletin.
Life Groups Across the Campus
The Sunday morning rhythm begins at 9:30 a.m. with Life Groups meeting across the three-building campus. Adult classes gather in the fellowship hall and main building, and the church publishes a campus map so newcomers can find rooms numbered from the Activity Center to Main 209. Groups include College and Youth in the main Fellowship Hall, Single Young Adults in Activity 181, Young Couples in Main 209, the Berean class in Activity 188, the Journey in Activity 184, an In-Depth Bible Study in Main 114, Life's Messy in Activity 276, and the Apostles in Activity 271, with an online option over Zoom for those joining from home. Legacy Groups for adults sixty and up meet in several rooms around the Activity wing as well. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade have their own energetic Life Group hour at 9:30 before joining the rest of the church family for worship at 10:45.
Wednesday Nights at Life University
From September through May, the doors reopen at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays for Life University, an in-depth teaching time built around semester-long discipleship courses. Recent classes have walked through the spiritual disciplines, the principles of biblical interpretation in a study of How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth, and the theology and practice of evangelism. Recordings of these core classes are available to watch online. The men's ministry hosts separate Wednesday Bible studies at 7 a.m. at the IHOP in Zion Crossroads and at 7 a.m. at the Panera Bread in the Barracks Shopping Center, and a Thursday morning group resumes in September.
Children and Preschool
FIRSTkids, the children's ministry, runs from infants through fifth grade. Sunday School for ages eight weeks through two years is offered at both 9:30 and 10:45, with teachers who use The Gospel Project curriculum and a security system in which each child receives a numbered tag that doubles as a paging number if a parent is needed during worship. Three- to five-year-olds gather for their own age-appropriate Bible study, snacks, and a large-group video time at 10:45, while K-5th graders break into age-specific small groups after a group teaching time at 9:30 and are then welcomed into congregational worship with their families at 10:45.
The children's ministry is led by Nancy, who grew up at First Baptist and has served on staff since 2000, and by Sherry, who coordinates FIRSTkids and Vacation Bible School. American Heritage Girls Troop VA0735 meets for young women, and Trail Life Troop VA-0735 offers a church-based, Christ-centered mentoring and discipleship journey for boys built around outdoor adventure. Mission Friends gathers children age three and up using curriculum from WMU, the women's missions auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention.
First Baptist Preschool, a ministry of the church, serves children ages two and a half through five, including Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten. The biblically based program partners with parents in early discipleship and operates during the regular school year.
Youth: Park Street Youth Ministry
Park Street Youth Ministry, known as PSYM, exists to help the next generation take ownership of their faith before they leave home. Sixth through twelfth graders meet in age- and gender-specific Life Groups at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays, then sit with their families for worship. On Wednesday nights during the school year, the youth gather again for community, teaching, and discipleship. On Sunday evenings, twice a month from September through May, students lead their own worship, walk through verse-by-verse teaching, and play games together. The youth ministry also fields a Student Leadership Team, a Praise Team, a Hospitality Team, and travels on annual mission trips.
Youth Pastor Benji Hall joined the staff in 2021 after twelve years in Northern California. He and his wife Chelsea, married in 2009, hold degrees from Liberty University and are raising four children.
Pathway Community: A Place for Every Family
Pathway Community is First Baptist's special-needs ministry, designed so that individuals with disabilities and their families can be fully present in the life of the church. Background checked and trained buddies are paired with children, students, or adults to help them settle into Sunday School and the worship service. Alternative Pathway locations and resources are available for those who need a quieter setting. Christi, who joined the staff in late 2023, leads the ministry and serves alongside a growing team of volunteers.
Women, Men, and Seniors
Women of the Word, the women's ministry, hosts a series of Bible studies and gatherings across the year, including Precept Upon Precept for women on Tuesday mornings on Zoom, led by Precept-trained leader Pam Stump. Charlottesville Precept, hosted at First Baptist and organized by ladies in the broader community, runs Wednesday mornings from September through April. Women also gather for Coffee and Conversation on Saturday mornings in the Fellowship Hall. The ministry is connected through the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia women's network.
Men of FBC meet three times a week for Bible study, including the Wednesday morning groups at IHOP Zion Crossroads and Panera Barracks Road and a Thursday morning group that resumes in September. Pickup basketball runs weekly at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. on breakfast weeks, in the FBC gym, and a monthly Men's Breakfast convenes on the first Saturday at 8 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall for teaching, food, and fellowship.
Seniors meet on Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for coffee and cookies, followed by a Bible study from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. The class is livestreamed so members who cannot attend in person can still join.
Music, Media, and the Worship Team
The worship team welcomes singers, choral members, and instrumentalists of all kinds. Sample recordings of congregational favorites are posted on the church's worship page so newcomers can hear the sound of a Sunday morning before they visit. A separate team of volunteers runs the audio, video, and lighting for the livestream and in-person services; new members are welcome, and the team gathers each year for events like the Worship and Technology Conference.
Faith Riders on the Open Road
Faith Riders, a motorcycle ministry headquartered at First Baptist, meets weekly and throughout the year for rides, fellowship, and outreach. A regular group ride leaves the church at 9:15 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month, and Bike Night at Mission BBQ runs the first Tuesday from May through September. Greg Daniel, who joined the FBC staff in 2022 after nearly twenty-five years in the military, serves as a local officer and national board member of FAITH Riders Motorcycle Ministry. Each year the ministry travels to Daytona Bike Week in March, Laconia in June, and Sturgis in August, where missionaries share their testimonies in a tent set up among the rally crowds.
CarePortal and Foster Families
First Baptist partners with CarePortal, a national organization that connects families in crisis, including biological, kinship, and foster families served by the Department of Social Services in Charlottesville City and Albemarle County, with churches willing to meet tangible needs. Volunteers at First Baptist serve as Trained Responders who engage directly with families and as donors who help assemble bed-in-a-box kits, with each twin mattress costing just under one hundred dollars. Members with a pickup truck or minivan can join the delivery and setup team. The ministry also offers support for anyone wrestling with addiction, alcohol, or other compulsive behaviors through confidential conversations with trained men and women in the church.
The Connectors Project
The congregation voted overwhelmingly to affirm the CGC Ministry Campaign, a $4.1 million capital project to replace the deteriorating open-air breezeways with enclosed, climate-controlled connectors that will link the fellowship hall, sanctuary, and children's wing into a single building. Two new elevators will bring the campus up to current ADA accessibility standards, a dedicated drop-off and pick-up area will streamline children's check-in, and the security team will gain improved sightlines over the entrances. Roughly one million dollars is already in hand from the Jeanne Fournier Trust and designated gifts, with the remaining $3.1 million to be raised over a maximum of three years. The Leadership Council expects to complete the campaign without taking on long-term debt, though a short-term construction bridge loan may be used as a precaution.
Plan a Visit
First Baptist Church sits at 735 Park Street, between Barracks Road and Pantops, off Route 250, and about two minutes from the Downtown Mall. Parking is plentiful across the campus: disability spaces line the front right and the rear, expectant-mother parking sits in front of the children's building on the front left, and additional spaces fill the side and back lots. Dress is whatever a guest is comfortable in, ranging from Sunday best to casual. Children are welcome from eight weeks old in the nursery; those in kindergarten and up join the sanctuary at 10:45. Hearing assistance devices are available from greeters in the lobby for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Sunday morning begins with Life Groups at 9:30, worship at 10:45, and Wednesday teaching at 6 p.m. from September through May. Giving, the livestream, a campus map, and the full sermon archive are available online.