Every Sunday morning in Saline, services come alive for about 500 members of NorthRidge Church inside a middle school auditorium reconfigured with an elaborate prefab pulpit.

The setup, which volunteer crews start assembling as early as 7 a.m. and put back into the cases and trailers after the services are over, is a way for the nondenominational church in Plymouth to have services in Saline without the expense of buying real estate and operating a building.

The kits also are part of a trend that has been fueling growth at Portable Church Industries in Troy — which, as its name suggests — manufactures and sells the equipment that religious organizations across the country use to turn schools, movie theaters and other places into temporary houses of worship.

“A church has a huge impact on the community,” said Kendra Malloy, marketing director for Portable Church, who pointed out that a key aim of the private company is to help churches expand. “Our job is to figure out all the parts and pieces they need to make that work.”

Portable Church, which started in 1994 and has annual sales of less than $10 million, has been growing steadily. This year, the company estimates it sold about 200 portable churches — and its new CEO, Scott Cougill, said he seeks to boost sales by 10% to 15%.

Branching out?
In addition to reaching more churches, Cougill said, the company could expand in the future by transferring its manufacturing expertise of portable, prefab equipment to other industries.

It’s hard to know how many groups are in the market for portable churches.

No one tracks how many churches and other religious groups rent public spaces for worship — and groups, the company said, are opening new churches all the time as part of their mission to evangelize.

Portable Church estimates it serves less than 10% of the market.

The company was founded by Peter van der Harst, an industrial engineer, who turned his experience creating churches in public spaces for Kensington Church in Troy into a business.

The kits the company makes are loaded on trailers in custom-designed cases.

The assemblies often include a stage, audio, video and lighting equipment, similar to what a band on tour might use to setup in arenas and civic centers. They run from about $15,000 to $900,000 — and take between 30 minutes to a couple of hours to set up, and then take down.

A new location
Often the equipment is purchased by established churches seeking to start a new church in another area until they can buy property. Some churches decide not to invest in a permanent building at all.

To accommodate its growth, Portable Church is moving part of its manufacturing operations into new digs early next year. The new location also is in Troy, not far from the headquarters.

Cougill, who was an executive pastor at Pacific Crossroads Church in Los Angeles and joined the company in October, said part of the challenge for the company is finding customers because the church industry is so fragmented.

When Cougill was at Pacific Crossroads, for example, the church was expanding into a new location and could have benefited from buying equipment from Portable Church, but didn’t, he said, because the church didn’t know about the company.

States with the most demand for portable churches, the company said, include, Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

“We want to make enough money to be able to grow,” he said. “But because we help churches, we try to keep our costs down and charge less.”

SOURCE DETROIT FREE PRESS 12/30/2013

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