Business Spotlight: Furniture business turns heavenly for company

Church furniture has turned out to be a heavenly business for the Dodd family.

Ron Dodd Sr., his wife, Karen, and son, Ronnie Jr., are getting ready to expand Cove-nant Church Furniture into a new 32,000-square-foot facility on Liberty Street in Ozark this June.

The company manufactures and installs custom-made, sol-id-wood pews, lecterns, prayer altars, prayer rails, pulpits, chairs, communion tables and other church furniture as well as furniture used in funeral homes and courthouses.

Currently, 34 employees work at Covenant Church Fur-niture's 12,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, located at 1620 W. Skyline Ave. in Ozark.

"Right now, we have five to six months worth of back-orders," said Ron Dodd. "We were at the point where we either had to expand, or quit taking orders."

Despite stiff industry competition, Covenant Church Furni-ture's business volume has steadily increased since it op-ened in 1998. To keep up with demand, the Dodds hired 16 new employees and added a second shift four months ago.

Although much of the company's work takes place outside the Springfield area, Covenant Church Furniture has built and installed furnishings at many local churches, including Ridgecrest Baptist Church, East Sunshine Church of Christ, the North Side Assembly of God and Faith Assembly of God in Springfield.

The company also has manufactured and installed furnishings at Ozark Mountain United Pentecostal Church, First Free Will Baptist Church and the Christian County Courthouse in Ozark.

Ron Dodd's experience in the church furniture industry dates back to the mid 1970s, when he served as the director of buildings and grounds at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. One of his duties included working with church furniture manufacturers, who furnished the small prayer chapels located in each dormitory on campus.

In 1976, one of the church furniture manufacturers Dodd worked with offered him a job. He accepted the offer and the company transferred him to Springfield, where he served as a regional sales representative.

Ronnie Dodd Jr. followed in his father's footsteps in 1994 when he when to work for another church furniture manufacturer. During his tenure with the company, he developed a good working knowledge of the industry and held several different positions, including salesperson, national service coordinator and production coordinator.

In 1998, the Dodds decided to pool their knowledge and experience and open Covenant Church Furniture. Each member of the family handles a different aspect of the business. Ronnie Dodd oversees operations at the plant, while Ron Dodd handles customer consultations and supervises the sales staff. A jack-of-all trades, Karen Dodd does marketing, customer service and helps with sales calls.

The Dodds said their industry knowledge helped the company get off to a strong start. They knew what customers wanted, and they knew their competitors' strengths and weaknesses.

"I would say there are about 25 to 30 companies in the country that manufacture church furniture, and we all compete against one another for the same jobs," said Ron Dodd.

"It's not unusual for us to bid against eight other companies for a job. Some companies will try to win a job by bad mouth-ing their competitors. I don't do that. I talk about our commitment to quality workmanship and the integrity we show when we deal with our customers. Our motto is, Men of integrity, men of our word.' "

Geography also has played a role in the company's success. According to Ronnie Dodd, it's easier to find good-quality hardwood lumber in southwest Mis-souri than it is in many areas of the country. The company's location near the geographic center of the United States also has helped keep costs down, since Covenant Church Furni-ture installs all of the furniture it manufactures and sells.

"We do not use contract in-stallers, but we have approximately six employees perform the company's installation work, which takes place throughout the United States," said Ron Dodd.

Despite the competition and the challenges, the Dodds said they truly enjoy what they do, and they feel blessed to be able to work with each other. They also enjoy the reputation they've established for themselves within the industry.

"We're no longer some small unknown company," Karen Dodd said. "People have heard of us, and we're now considered to be one of the larger church furniture manufacturers in the industry. I look back at just how far we've come, and I realize that God has guided us and helped us every step of the way."