April 2015

Men on Mission Some of the men in our Diakonos Community have been expressing an interest in finding more ways to connect with our friends without homes beyond the route we do every other week with Food 4 Souls. As one member put it, he wanted the opportunity to "break bread" with them and hear more of their story. With this in mind, we started meeting for Breakfast monthly as "Men on Mission" to plan our approach. Last Saturday (April 11) we took our first step by setting up a cookout near a place where about 25 friends camp along the White River. We invited our friends without homes to join us as honored guests. This first effort was a learning experience and a success. We had about 15 friends stop by to get food. 10 of them sat in a circle with us as we ate and spent time just talking with each other about life. Our friends in the camp enjoyed having freshly grilled meat and we enjoyed having extra time just to get to know them better. We are planning to do this at least bi-monthly through October. Our friends at the camp are interested in getting involved in the cooking as well. Pray that God will give us opportunities to share the love of Christ as we connect with people in this way. Also, pray that it will be an effective way to disciple men in our community as we serve others together. Financial Support Information In light of the possibility Leon will be stepping away from his part-time teaching position to focus on Diakonos and the opportunities we mentioned in our March update, we have raised our goal budget to $3300/month. Our current regular pledge total is $1722 / month, so we need to raise an additional $1578 / month to be able to make this change. Our goal is to raise this increased budget by September 1 in order to give the school adequate notice to find a replacement teacher by mid-year. If you would like to personally invest in this ministry, you can either mail donations to the address below or click the "Give Now" button below to give online. Mail all tax-deductible donations to: Christian Associates International 18940 Base Camp Rd Monument, CO 80132 Make checks payable to Christian Associates International and write Longard - 41273 in the memo. "Leon possesses determination, strong character and an extreme amount of empathy. Food 4 Souls truly appreciates these qualities and is so thankful for Leon and the Diakonos Community. Leon takes the time to get to know the homeless individuals he is working with. This is key when developing trust and creating a relationship with the homeless." Dawn Adams, Community Relations Director /Outreach Advocate, Food 4 Souls Prayer Requests Pray that God would provide for the work He continues to call us to. We have seen growth in our pledge commitments over the past couple of months, but we will need to see this grow further if we are to move ahead with this vision. Pray for wisdom as we continue to develop our partnership with Food 4 Souls and branch out as a missional community. Two young friends of our girls were removed from their home by social workers recently. Please pray that God will give peace to these children and empower us to be effective in ministry to this family as the parents seek to regain custody. Contact Information: Leon & Tina Longard 4441 Lucky Cir Indianapolis, IN 46203 Home: (317) 791-7116 Cell: (317) 970-7799 E-Mail:llongard@christianassociates.org           tklongard@gmail.com Website: diakonosindy.weebly.com Share Tweet Forward +1 Share Copyright © 2015 Diakonos Community, All rights reserved.