FBC Executive Pastor Scott Carlin in the balcony of the under construction sanctuary.
The significant growth over the past several years in and around Cullman extends to the city’ s third-oldest place of worship. In attempting to accommodate its burgeoning membership, First Baptist Church had found itself stretched to the limit with the seating capacity for its 8 a. m. and 10:30 a. m. Sunday services. Indeed, the latter service had to be held in the church gym over the past few years in order to make space for the faithful.
When average attendance across all Sunday services in 2023 reached approximately 900 people and trending upward, the church felt that the time had arrived for an expansion. The church’ s“ For God Forever” Capital Campaign initiative will soon result in a lot more breathing room for a lot more church members.
“ We were basically out of room,” said FBC Executive Pastor Scott Carlin, who is entering his seventh year at FBC.“ By 2018, our second service had outgrown our existing sanctuary and had to move to the gym. We added new chairs and sound and lighting for the service, but no matter what you do, you can’ t make a gym acoustically able to function like a sanctuary. So there was always a realization that we had to do something different.”
An artist rendering of the completed sanctuary from the stage.
PHOTO COURTESY FBC
PROFILE 2026 | 17