A new sign at the front entrance to Seventh Street Baptist Church, located on Alabama Highway 157, verifies what many Cullman residents have known for the past few months — that the church’s new name will be Northbrook Baptist Church.

Church officials and members have also referred to the church as Northbrook throughout the community and local newspaper articles have also referred to the church by that name, but according to a local attorney representing the church, the name change is still not official.

In fact, when questioned about the new sign Friday, Cullman Attorney Billy Jackson said he wasn’t aware that a new sign with the name Northbrook Baptist Church had been erected.

“It’s no secret that the church will be called Northbrook Baptist Church. That will be the end result. We just have a few legal matters to clear up first such as combining two existing corporations into one new corporation which will be known as North Brook Baptist Church,” Jackson said. “At that point it was my understanding that I was to get with Bill Floyd, who represents the Seventh Street Baptist Church of Cullman, Ala. Preservation Committee and together issue a mutual press release announcing the name change as stipulated in the mediation agreement.”

Floyd, contacted Friday afternoon, said until that stipulation has been met, nothing has been finalized sign or no sign.

“The agreement was that the pastor and church leadership would use their best efforts to change the name of their church by Jan. 15, 2006, which was six months from the date of the July 15, 2005, agreement,” Floyd said. “I trust that they are continuing to use their best efforts to comply with the agreement.”

In regard to the church located on Seventh Street Southwest, Floyd said the church membership has agreed to change the name of the church back to Seventh Street Baptist Church of Cullman, Ala. once the agreement has been complied with.

“We’re waiting for the agreement to be finalized before we take action to change our name,” Floyd said. “And the agreement was that the two churches would issue a joint press release and we haven’t reached that point yet.”

The legal dispute between the two church groups which share a common bond and name came to a conclusion in July 2005, when both sides reached a mediation agreement.

Floyd, a long-time member of Seventh Street Baptist Church, was a plaintiff in a lawsuit which sought monetary damages as a result of the church’s decision to relocate from 708 Seventh Street SW to Alabama Highway 157.

A non-jury trial was scheduled to begin here on July 25, 2005, under special appointed Judge Daniel Rogers, a retired circuit court judge from Jefferson County, but the trial never got underway because the two parties were able to reach a mutual agreement.

A reported 73 percent of the voting membership of the church voted in 2001 to accept Drinkard’s offer of a property exchange.

A lawsuit filed in September 2001 which sought to stop the church from going forward with the relocation, was later amended with the plaintiffs seeking $5 million in compensation.

Unable to prove to the court’s satisfaction monetary damages or a loss of due process, Circuit Court Judge S.A. Watson Jr. (retired) granted a defense motion for summary judgment on Aug. 10, 2004, abruptly ending a two-day trial that pitted the congregations against each other.

Representatives of the Seventh Street Baptist Church of Cullman, Alabama, Preservation Committee, a group of church members who broke away from the original church, bought back the original church and property from Cullman developer Roy Drinkard in December 2002.

Seventh Street Baptist Church of Cullman, Ala. retained its name throughout the move and subsequent court proceedings.