x1lexure:
As someone with a significant amount of church audio experience (and mission trip audio experience),
DON'T buy a boombox. Please! Churches I have worked with in the past have spent gobs and gobs and gobs of money on junk cheapie throw-away boomboxes; they run them to blasting levels (i.e. "all the way up") and they don't get the job done, they break, blah blah blah.
Here's the solution:
JBL EON Power15
It's a self-contained PA speaker and amp. It's got standard mic inputs, so you can connect a PCDP (which are always in abundance on mission trips) via an adaptor or you can connect a microphone and have a little PA. They're light and very durable and can be stand mounted. Further, later in life you can add another one and link the two for more power. Then later you add a litte mixer and you have a complete multichannel PA. The EON is flat enough that it doesn't require a lot of equalization and is EXTREMELY easy to set up and operate. There are several models in the EON lineup:
Eon Power10 (grey): same as above, only a 10" driver, cheaper
Eon G2 10 (black): 10" driver like the Power10, but twice the power, a bit more expensive
Eon G2 (black): same as link above, only twice the amp power, has additional 1/4" inputs and a bass/treble control, more expensive.
It's a bit more to spend than a Wal-Mart boombox, I know. But it will outlast any boombox by twice as long and sound considerably better while doing it. Additionally, there are a number of competing products out now (mackie, behringer, etc) so you should have some room in price ranges. By the way, I am not affiliated with JBL in any way, but I have prescribed these litte speakers for many (!) churches for similar use and never had any complaints.
