While at the conference, I had the opportunity to connect with several of the vendors at the trade show exhibit.  I was surprised there were really no church furniture manufacturers or dealers displaying in the exhibit hall.  I imagine the high cost of doing so (fees, travel, shipping, personnel, etc.) is the reason for this, but nonetheless I still expected there to be a few.  There were numerous lending institutions and construction companies present, but no church furnishings booths.

I did enjoy connecting with my friends from Midwest Church Construction at their booth.  I have worked with several church builders over the years, but Midwest is my favorite.  If you have any sort of construction project being considered at your church, I would encourage you to be sure to take a look at Midwest.  And for all your church furnishings, check out Save Your Church Money.  These are two great companies to obtain quality products and services from for your church.

Most church cafes and coffee-shops are not normally exceptionally large. The general rule is a handful of cafe tables, either at dining height or bar height, and an appropriate number of chairs and bar stools. Such settings lend themselves very well to personalizing some items to promote the church’s “brand”.  And nothing will stand out more than the actual table tops.

The Furniture Lab can creating an amazing array of custom designed tables.  Their in-house graphics department regularly assists church in creating truly unique tables. Here are several examples of their offerings.

Save Your Church Money is a national dealer for The Furniture Lab. Be sure and contact them first as their pricing will be the lowest. Jobs are often registered and your first contact can be critical in helping you obtain the best pricing.

Office Chairs Inc. was founded about four decades ago.  From the beginning, their goal was to manufacturer quality products of great value with low lead times.  Over those decades,their business has grown and they now have over 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Santa Fe Springs, CA.  And like all Church Furniture Guy endorsed manufacturers, they stand behind all their products with the goal of 100% customer satisfaction.

Office Chair Inc.’s product line consists of Executive, Conference, Task, Reception, Guest and Soft Seating.  They have relationships with some of leading fabric manufacturers such as Momentum Textiles, C.F. Stinson, and Culp .  These relationships result in some of the shortest lead times in the industry for custom upholstered seating.

For today’s churches, Office Chair Inc. has positioned itself well as a mid-market manufacturer.  Their entire line is available at great savings to churches through Save Your Church Money.  Please be sure and contact SYCM for all of your church seating needs.

Over the years that followed, I had the opportunity to attend several all-day conferences at this center.  I would sit in the main auditorium for hours at a time in the chairs they had purchased.  When I first sat down in one of these chairs, I immediately noticed how comfortable it was.  But what surprised me was how comfortable it was even after sitting in it all day.  I remember commenting on several occasions to staff members of the conference center how much I appreciated their choice of seating.  Like each of you, I had experienced many times at other venues discomfort after being seated for less than an hour.  Being comfortable on a chair after several hours of sitting certainly enhanced my experience at their events.

Several years ago we needed several hundred chairs for a similar environment at our church.  I decided early on we should purchase the same chair the conference center had purchased, one that was perfectly suited to the desired application.  I made the necessary inquiries and discovered the ELAN Series from Comfortek Seating.  My decision was confirmed early on when I learned the nickname for the ELAN is “The Eight Hour Chair”. That was seven years ago now, and we could not be more pleased with our decision. Several other churches have now made the decision to purchase this same chair after visiting New Hope and enjoying ours.

Since our purchase I have discovered several other manufacturers produce similar chairs to the ELAN from Comfortek Seating.  However, none carry the attractive pricing that Comfortek offers to the church community.  So from years of personal experience as a consumer, and now for the past few years as the Church Furniture Guy, the ELAN has been and continues to be my favorite church chair!  You can read about its attributes here.  And as always, feel free to contact me with questions and comments.

One more quick suggestion:  Be sure and connect with Save Your Church Money if you have interest in the ELAN or any other type of church seating.  Their expertise and pricing strategy is of great value to churches across our country.

Over those same years I have been thrilled to see three of our staff members step out to plant churches! I have family members who are also planting churches. And as I interact with them on a regular basis, I experience again through them the importance of every dollar!

They and thousands like them are the reason for Save Your Church Plant Money coming into existence! Save Your Church Plant Money.com is committed to assisting church planters across this country by:

* Offering practical advice on church furnishings options for church plants and their unique environments!
* Leveraging the buying power of Save Your Church Money.com to provide at-cost pricing!
* Journeying with each church planter through each life phase of their church as growth and needs develop!

You can contact Save Your Church Plant Money here.

Permanent Seating: This style of seating continues to dominate most church environments.  My use of the descriptive “permanent” does not denote that the seats are affixed to the facility, though that can certainly be the case.  Rather the implication is that in this type of application, the chairs rarely need to be moved.  The use of the room is quite static throughout the various programs of the church, therefore the “function” of the seating for the room is static as well.  The seating needs for the room simply do not vary.

Flexible Seating:  With the growing need for worship and other church environments to lend themselves to various applications and uses, the use of flexible seating has increased significantly over the past couple decades.  By “flexible” I mean that the seating can be used in different configurations such as in rowed auditorium style seating as well as more informal arrangements such as around tables.  These chairs tend to be less bulky and a bit lighter than permanent seating.  They also then to cost a bit less.  However, the assumption is that they’re consistently being used in the room they’re located in and not stored.  If the chairs need to be stored, rather than flexible seating, the description that applies best is transitional seating.

Transitional Seating: With many church environments today, rooms will need to be reconfigured many times during a week.  When this is the reality, seating that’s simple to handle and simple to store is important.  Some transitional seating options of today can be stored in 25% the space it takes to hold a comparable level of permanent seating.  Transitional seating tends to be very strong and will weigh far less than what permanent and flexible seating will.  While these types of chairs will be more expensive,  they can  be a wise investment over the years of use they’ll provide.

For a visual overview of these three types of church seating, check out this presentation from Save Your Church Money.