NNCC Show Discount

Our NNCC Show Consultation Discount ends Friday, May 4. Be sure to get your dates submitted and confirmed by then.

The NNCC Recap

The last of the crew that went off to the NNCC is back today. We have arrived home safely, and are basking in weary inspiration. It was a refreshing time to meet with clients new & old, and we have returned home with a quite a few things to mull over.

From Wayne Cordeiro

You can teach what you know, but you reproduce what you are. Though Wayne was speaking to a roomful of planters, that was an important message to us as businessmen and women. We desire to reproduce systems and designs that move people from task to life-touch. We must aspire to be the kind of people that can that provoke that type of reproduction.

From Ed Stetzer

The Church must be missional. Jesus said “I have come to seek that which was lost” Again, though speaking to pastors and planters, this resonated with us as we remembered why we are in this business in the first place. Our fourth core value as a company is "Church Planting is the Most Effective Mechanism for Kingdom Growth". Ed's comment was a good reminder.

From the Blogger's Roundtable

Church Planting can be lonely. Blogging and forums not only allow planters to share best practices, but allow a community for pastors that sometimes forget they are not in battle alone. Here at PCI, we work with as many as 400 churches a year. What can we do to host or promote an environment that allows pastors to learn from each other? There are a few things we do to that end, but what else can we be doing to further that cause? What coaching networks, forums, etc. should we partner with to enhance connection?

From Assorted Planters

Two church planters spent some time with Pete & I as we ate lunch one day. They challenged us to do more to share PCI's accumulated knowledge with as many as we can. We were encouraged by them, and are still mulling over the best way to do that.

Many planters expressed a love for our Flickr Album, and encouraged us to add more post-launch photos. We agreed. The first of those will be uploaded beginning next week under a new set entitled "PCI Churches: Post-Launch".

The NNCC was a great experience - from our meetings with pastors to the sessions to our Dinner & a Movie event. For those who couldn't come, I encourage you to download and purchase podcasts as you can and glean knowledge from people who are walking the path with you.

A Big Thank You!

Our first ever Dinner & a Movie event is done. Thank you to all who came out and made it a success. We had well over 250 pastors and had the chance to speak with many planters that have big plans for advancing the kingdom and spreading the truth to the nations! It was encouraging to us to meet the dreamers and architects of tomorrow's church movements.

We already have many ideas for our "next time". Our theatre site was a bit smaller than we had anticipated and we made a lot of aesthetic compromises along the way as we took a system designed for a large theatre and re-designed to fit into the theatre we had procured. The system was generously provided to us by current client Flamingo Road Church (FRC). FRC is a multi-site church in the Miami area that has planted a few campuses (using PCI) in their metro area and one in Peru! A big thank you to our generous and incredible friends at Flamingo Road for the loan on equipment.

Flamingo Road joins us in the "dream world" for taking Dinner & a Movie to the next level. Our next event will have portable stage designs and set ups designed by the very creative programming team at FRC.

Tomorrow is another busy day at the NNCC.We're teaching a class tomorrow on Finding the Right Facility. If you are looking for a facility and happen to have some free time during the 11am-12pm Plenary session - come on out!!!

It has been a great conference so far (and it's only been one day!). Thank you for your continued interest and support of Portable Church Industries. I hope our event tonight revealed our hearts and passion for equipping church planters.

Enjoy the rest of the conference!

Dinner & a Movie Details (Map)

We still have room at our free Dinner & a Movie event on Tuesday, April 24 in Orlando, FL.!! We've got an incredible group so far - come on out & join the event!

You'll be able to see a Portable Church in action, meet the staff of PCI, understand different ways of doing children's ministry in a movie theatre and learn how to rent your local theatre for church services! We are partnering with National Cinemedia at the National New Church Conference for this visual event. Visit their websites for more information on our partners!

RSVP to kendra@portablechurch.com, if you are interested in attending the event. See here for more details.

Comments on "Breaking the Missional Code"

by Brian Koehn

In this business, you get a lot of books. I've been reading my way through the pile and have finally had a chance to absorb Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. I know many of you have already read this book, but I wanted to pipe in with a few comments from a different perspective.

If you are looking for the next trendy model to guarantee church growth, then this book is for you...because that is not what it is about. It is also not about why to be missional. It is about how to let your mission transcend your personal subculture. For those who have heard Ed Stetzer speak, the book might be fairly redundant, but will still have good practical advice and examples of churches that have changed the way they do things in order to reach the people they are trying to reach.

"The key to breaking the code of a community is to have the heart of the Father for that community." (page 22).

"If a church does not regularly examine its culture, it ends up as a culture unto itself." (page 28).

The introduction seemed to last about 50 pages, but then the book started covering the shift in focus from Church Growth to Church Health to Missional Church, and how this means shifting from:

Programs to Processes

Models to Missions

Attractional to Incarnational

Uniformity to Diversity

Professional to Passionate

Seating to Sending

Decisions to Disciples

Additional to Exponential

Monuments to Movements

When the authors get down to the nuts and bolts of planting missional ministries, it's clear that they are writing to a fairly conservative audience. I would recommend this book for pastors to share with their leadership team to lay the foundation for getting them on board with different ways of doing church. This book is fresh enough to serve as an introduction to missional thinking, yet conservative enough to keep church folks engaged and still practical enough to cast a vision for being a missionary in your own community.

[Shameless plug for PCI:] On page 197, the authors write about Harold Bullock and Hope Church. "(Hope Church) moved into their first permanent facilities after a decade of moving from place to place.[...] it became apparent to me that Harold had paid an incredible price, putting the development of leaders and the multiplication of churches ahead of developing a local campus." [Here it comes] PCI exists to take the pain out of portability. By investing in a chasis for portability, and equipment that is durable, light, compact, and 'volunteer friendly', churches can experience tremendous flexibility, leveraging buildings that are empty on Sunday morning, and put off the resource draining phase of building a facility that is often their first step away from missional thinking. (Sometime you'll have to ask me how I really feel.) [And Done].

Having grown up on the mission field, it has not always been easy for me to get excited about the local church. This book is about local churches forcefully advancing the kingdom by incarnating in their target culture and reaching the lost, and that's exciting.


Brian Koehn is the General Manager of Portable Church Industries and has served on the planting team for Kensington Community Church in Troy, MI and Citadel of Faith in Detroit, MI. Currently, he serves as part of the leadership board for Citadel of Faith. He is married to Lesley and has three wonderful children - Jessie, Lydia and Robert.

Dinner's On Us

Portable Church Industries is partnering with National CineMedia, in conjunction with National New Church Conference, to bring you a can't-miss-conference-event in Orlando, FL.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2007 from 5pm - 7pm - National CineMedia and Portable Church Industries are renting out two theatres in Orlando, FL and setting up church. Whether you're a multi-site church, a brand new church, a church planter thinking of starting a church, or an existing Movie Theatre Church - this conference event is for you!

• Ever wondered just how well church can be done in a portable setting?


• Ever wondered how to utilize signage when it competes against the background of your rented environment?


• Ever wondered how to set up children's ministry in a Movie Theatre?


• Ever wondered how to negotiate the best deal with your Movie Theatre Manager?

Every attendee will receive a tour of a simulated Portable Church, a FREE dinner and a FREE Admission to the movie of your choice. National CineMedia will walk you through the steps to renting a theatre in your area, and Portable Church will show you how Church can be done Portably with excellence and efficiency. From audio to video, from lighting to children's ministries to conversations with your landlord - this workshop will cover it all! Bring your staff, your team members and your ministers! This is the perfect opportunity for you to interact with us and ask questions.

Join Portable Church Industries and National CineMedia for a Visual and Informative Event you won't want to miss.

More information coming soon... (subscribe to the updates here)

Celebrate! (March 2007)

PCI celebrates fellow church plants that began, re-launched or re-equipped in March 2007. May we, and those with whom we labor, be discipled today - running the race with perseverance.

North Hills Church, CA; Efficiency Upgrade

Fellowship Bible Church, TN; Efficiency Upgrades

Blount Community Church, TN; New Ministry Launch

New Life Church, NM; New Plant

The Bridge Church, TX; New Plant

Crossroads Community Church, CO; Multi Site Launch

Reston Community Church, VA; Re-Launch and Venue Change

Eastlake Community Church, WA; Massive New Growth and New Equipment

Lake Baldwin Church, FL; New Plant

The Gathering Church, NY; New Plant

Emmanual Church, MD; New Plant

Revival Christian Fellowship, HI; Major Equipment Upgrades

Crossroads Community Church, WI; Multi Site Launch (part of CO church listed above!)

Church at the Falls, ON (Canada); New Plant

Christian Temple Church, TX; Efficiency Upgrade

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12: 1-2