tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post114125625745732551..comments2008-10-11T18:43:13.037-04:00Scott Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913311717340632610noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-79518361870673276712008-04-08T11:50:00.000-04:002008-04-08T11:50:00.000-04:00Scott,<BR/><BR/>Our church got started 9 years ago, so perhaps our perspective coming from the other end might be helpful. Here are some quick learnings:<BR/><BR/>1) Spend what you can and plan for the long haul. We're just now starting a building project and probably have 2 years+ of rental. <BR/><BR/>2) see if your rental space with allow you to do onsite storage. Our school let us build a shed near the back door and its been a huge time saver for our volunteers.<BR/><BR/>3) volunteer burnout is huge. Little things make all the difference. Do what you can to save time time time. everyone will thank you at pack up time.<BR/><BR/>4) quality is always worth it. Our equipment lives in extreme temperature changes (inside of course, but still...) We went the cheap route first of just moving dollies. 65 -75 trips to unload. crazy! Then we inherited used home made cabinets from another portable church. Also bought some home depot flatbed carts. (that got the manager excited...) Now we're down to 12-15 trips. <BR/><BR/>5) if we had a do over, we'd spend the extra coin on proper storage containers from PCI or similar company. The homemade ones do the job, but need constant repair. <BR/><BR/><BR/>best wishes to everyone!<BR/><BR/>Steve Cuss<BR/>www.discovery-church.org<BR/>www.cusswords.netSteve Cusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677540667880413650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-49535695814386445032008-03-04T13:50:00.000-05:002008-03-04T13:50:00.000-05:00There is another option. There is a company called Church on wheels that has lower priced fully equipped trailers. They have a package on their webiste that starts at $ 27k including a big trailer.Jon Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214638027010253515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-37276823389655423042007-07-30T10:39:00.000-04:002007-07-30T10:39:00.000-04:00Wow...I have a consultation with PCI today, and we'd be interested in purchasing some used equipment, if there's the opportunity. You can email me at pastormlee@gmail.com. ThanksMark Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02062420777968928336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-32467365581831846262007-02-05T19:35:00.000-05:002007-02-05T19:35:00.000-05:00Our church plant is considering using PCI. If anyone has equipment from them that they want to sell, please email me @ shaunking@gmail.comShaun Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00309732448143134390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-1146869428154763562006-05-05T18:50:00.000-04:002006-05-05T18:50:00.000-04:00Give me a call at 678 469-1282 or email me at swhitaker@stonepointchurch.com I'd like to help any way possible.Scott Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913311717340632610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-1146863888152135512006-05-05T17:18:00.000-04:002006-05-05T17:18:00.000-04:00Scott,<BR/>Our church plant took a HUGE step of faith and bought a 6-figure package from PCI. Now, a year later, there are conversations about disbanding and I'm wondering if you know if PCI, or anyone else for that matter, provides a forum for buying/selling used equipment. Obviously, we're EXTREMELY interested in finding a way to pay off what we owe a generous donor who "loaned" us about 40% of what we needed to pay of our PCI bill because if we're unable to continue, we certainly don't want to leave them hanging.<BR/>Any ideas?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-1141525920372380912006-03-04T21:32:00.000-05:002006-03-04T21:32:00.000-05:00I talked with Matt over the phone, but I thought I would also answer his question here.<BR/>I would NOT recommend leasing the purchase. My understanding (I may be wrong) is that the interest rate is extremely high.<BR/>Plus I don't recommend being obligated to the purchase of equipment over outreach and staffing. Usually, if there is a budget cut, then it happens in one of those two areas. That can keep you from growing.Scott Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913311717340632610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-1141407657259623402006-03-03T12:40:00.000-05:002006-03-03T12:40:00.000-05:00I talked with Kendra at PCI and she gave me the name and number of a leasing company that has helped new churches. Any thoughts on the option of leasing equipment and then paying it off in 2-3 years? It would give us the option of better quality from the beginning.Matt Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10337828623198571091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13401071.post-1141395177803338392006-03-03T09:12:00.000-05:002006-03-03T09:12:00.000-05:00Scott, my post about Portable Church last week got hundreds of hits... and eventually got noticed in the PCI boardroom. The general manager called me and said they were doing some soul searching about their price points. He said they were going to work on the possibility of a lower-priced version ($15-20k) for they typical church planter who doesn't start off with six figures in the bank. Anyway, it was incredible that they were willing to listen and even adapt their strategy to help the typical planter.Benhttp://www.benarment.comnoreply@blogger.com