About Detours
Detours are inconvenient, but always adventurous. Traveling down I-65 towards Frankfort, Indiana, construction detoured me down highway 39. Farms and old homes lined the highway. Cornfields stretched for miles, the pattern broken only by barns and silos or clumps of trees. Some homes leaned a little and others were totally collapsed behind a row of corn. I was on my way to Antioch Church in Frankfort, Indiana to stay at someone’s home so I could speak at their church the next day and meet a community of believers.
My hosts were wonderful! They live in a firecracker warehouse. As a camper, hiker, and backpacker, I embrace adventure in all its forms. The more interesting the place, the more interesting the stories. I’ve slept in a church on the Navajo Reservation and heard the snap of a mouse trap in the middle of the night. Sleeping in a firecracker warehouse made me grin, and the generosity of my hosts warmed my heart.
Their home inside the warehouse was comfortable. Every effort to make me feel welcome was in the details even down to the hotel-sized shampoos and soaps. Wherever God brings me, I try to find the joy in the journey. Like when I drove to church in the morning, the fields looked different. Mist lay low over the cornfields. The light was different.
When you talk about social media to a country church like Antioch, you examine their website and Facebook presence. Antioch encourages a daily prayer routine. In my 11-minutes, I encouraged each one to think about how to use social media to encourage a daily prayer routine. Handouts were given to remind them of ways they can serve the globe and their community online. Their closest city is Indianapolis.
Indianapolis is 50% Hispanic and has one of the largest Burmese Refugee populations according to this website. We talked about where to find them on Facebook. More importantly, we talked about how the church will be where mission movements will happen thanks to technology. Small churches like Antioch can use social media to reach the unreached.
On my way back to Indianapolis International Airport, I took highway 39 again to I-65 and paused on this detour to snap a picture of a bridge over Sugar Creek. My role is a bridge, connecting people with technology and ministries that can help them realize the possibilities in missions. All media movements begin with prayer.