The Diakonos Community team is lead by Leon and Tina Longard, co-vocational missionaries with Communitas International.
Leon grew up in northeast Wisconsin. After high school, he moved to Minneapolis, MN to attend North Central University and graduated 1992 with a degree in Biblical Studies and Humanities. Tina grew up in Crosby, Minnesota. She also attended North Central University and graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies and Communications in 1990. In 1993, Leon and Tina began courting and were married the following year. They spent most of the next thirteen years in the Twin Cities area until they moved to Indiana in 2007.
For most of the first fifteen years after college, Leon was involved in university ministry either has a volunteer, bi-vocational, or full-time campus minister. Through those years, he also worked in the main street marketplace as a retail manager/trainer and as a service representative in the insurance industry. More recently, he has worked as a substitute teacher and special education assistant in their local school district and part-time computer teacher at Calvary Lutheran School. He currently works as an advocate with Food4Souls.
In addition to working alongside Leon in ministry, Tina previously worked in the Financial Aid Department at North Central University. She currently works part-time in the administrative office at HealthNet, a network of clinics in Indianapolis that serves those in need throughout the city.
In 2009, Leon and Tina launched Village Soul Ministries as a missional outreach based in their local church. In 2012, they formally joined the Communitas network as a continuation of their work through Village Soul. Through this ministry, they seek to build missional communities in Indianapolis that serve and bring the life of Christ to those on the margins of society.
Leon and Tina are blessed with three amazing daughters: Katiana, Elaina, and Natalia and two cats named Smores and Brody. As a family, they enjoy camping, hiking, gardening, and swimming at the YMCA together. Leon also enjoys fishing, riding bicycle, and being involved in whatever his daughters are doing. Though he has not lived in the Green Bay area for over 20 years, he is still a major Packer fan. Tina also enjoys writing and has had articles and devotionals published in various ministry publications.
Leon grew up in northeast Wisconsin. After high school, he moved to Minneapolis, MN to attend North Central University and graduated 1992 with a degree in Biblical Studies and Humanities. Tina grew up in Crosby, Minnesota. She also attended North Central University and graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies and Communications in 1990. In 1993, Leon and Tina began courting and were married the following year. They spent most of the next thirteen years in the Twin Cities area until they moved to Indiana in 2007.
For most of the first fifteen years after college, Leon was involved in university ministry either has a volunteer, bi-vocational, or full-time campus minister. Through those years, he also worked in the main street marketplace as a retail manager/trainer and as a service representative in the insurance industry. More recently, he has worked as a substitute teacher and special education assistant in their local school district and part-time computer teacher at Calvary Lutheran School. He currently works as an advocate with Food4Souls.
In addition to working alongside Leon in ministry, Tina previously worked in the Financial Aid Department at North Central University. She currently works part-time in the administrative office at HealthNet, a network of clinics in Indianapolis that serves those in need throughout the city.
In 2009, Leon and Tina launched Village Soul Ministries as a missional outreach based in their local church. In 2012, they formally joined the Communitas network as a continuation of their work through Village Soul. Through this ministry, they seek to build missional communities in Indianapolis that serve and bring the life of Christ to those on the margins of society.
Leon and Tina are blessed with three amazing daughters: Katiana, Elaina, and Natalia and two cats named Smores and Brody. As a family, they enjoy camping, hiking, gardening, and swimming at the YMCA together. Leon also enjoys fishing, riding bicycle, and being involved in whatever his daughters are doing. Though he has not lived in the Green Bay area for over 20 years, he is still a major Packer fan. Tina also enjoys writing and has had articles and devotionals published in various ministry publications.