As published in Worship Facilities, Mar/Apr 2009
Company Profile: Future Pro Inc., Inman, Kan
Future Pro Inc. has done everything from NBA gyms to driveways, so President and Owner Ron Ensz says the company is well attuned to the fitness and recreation needs of churches, from the largest to the smallest.
Just what does Future Pro offer? Basketball and volleyball products are the company’s most sought-out gear for churches. “We also get into benches and tip-and-roll bleachers for basketball or [dramatic] plays,” Ensz reports. “We also do football goal posts for church schools … and ceiling-mount, swing-down basketball goals [and padding].”
No matter what fitness products Future Pro is serving up for churches, the end goal is always the same. “We want people to get the right product, and to be happy with it,” Ensz says. “We’re not a sales company, but we like working with people, building relationships…. Churches like that once they figure that out.”
WFM: Tell us a little about how the company was founded, by whom, and when.
Ensz: We started in the late 1980s. A friend of mine, Loren Balzer, had three young boys. He was a custom harvester, meaning he cut wheat for a living. His wife, Jane, wanted a way to lower a basketball goal for his kids when he was gone. So Loren made a custom basketball lowering device, and when neighbors saw it, they wanted one. That’s how we started—small—and things have grown quite a bit. Today, Loren and I are business partners.
WFM: Have you always been focused on the needs of churches, or how did you evolve into that area?
Ensz: After Loren designed the first outdoor basketball driveway unit, a college wanted portable goals for outside, and a church saw those and wanted them. So we sold the church some. Then we started doing a lot of basketball in churches, through word-of-mouth mostly. Then churches started asking for volleyball, so we started doing that instead of recommending other companies.
Churches tell us, ‘You return our calls and the big companies don’t call us back.’ We like working with them, and it’s for a good cause.
WFM: How is a church fitness facility or multipurpose room different from an outside gym or fitness facility? Are there any custom needs that churches require and that you tailor your products to?
Ensz: The biggest difference in a church compared to a school or recreational facility is that with a church, we used to see primarily just two sports—basketball and volleyball. Churches wanted height adjustability, down to 3.5 feet so that little kids can play for entertainment.
Today [churches are building multipurpose facilities and even gyms], and so our products are changing to meet those needs. Churches want flexibility and customization. They will build a multipurpose room for exactly that—a wedding one night, a men’s basketball league the next, and kids AWANA programs the next.
WFM: You are seeing churches wanting more full-fledged gyms today.
Ensz: Yes…. We just did a project in Wichita, Kan., for Emmanuel Baptist Church where they [built] a fitness facility. They have a six-lane bowling alley, a swimming pool, a weight room and a locker room for the church and the community in a rough neighborhood. They’re trying to get kids in off the streets. If the kids tear something up, they have to earn their way back in. It gives the kids a safe place [to hang out] and it gives the church a way to get out the message.
WFM: How do you expect church fitness needs to change in the future?
Ensz: One of the big changes [already beginning] is that there’s more church schools developing—and not just a school, a whole sports program. Not only are they growing size-wise, but more of them are incorporating a gym-specific building in addition to multipurpose.
The size [of church rec installations] is changing too. Where it used to be small, just one or two goals, now we see more church buildings big enough to hold an official-sized court. And a lot more churches want courts and equipment that meet national high school federation standards and even college [standards].
We did a church in Memphis, Tenn., that had 18 full-sized courts and they were adding nine more. That’ll rival any college.
WFM: With this evolution, your equipment can be part of a church’s planning in the design stage.
Ensz: I just joined the National Association of Church Design Builders (NACDB), and I’m looking to network with builders. That’s a good step for us. It’s important for us to get in early in the design process. We can help churches understand how much room they need for out of bounds, for storage too. Planning early on makes it easier and more cost effective.
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