Jun 2010 Innercircle Perspective

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way (Psalm 37:23).

I have been greatly encouraged by recent visits to faithful partner churches in Florida, California, Ohio, Oklahoma, Russia, Ukraine, and the Republic of Georgia. It is absolutely thrilling, in the face of so many uncertainties in our world, to see the Lord’s people joyfully standing strong all over the globe. We have no reason to wring our hands. Our Heavenly Father has everything about us firmly in His grip. Times will change, but He will never change, and He will never leave us or forsake us.

One whose steps have clearly been established by the Lord in most difficult circumstances is Pastor Levan Akhalmosulishvili, who was born in the Russian-dominated Republic of Georgia. After three years of medical school in Kazakhstan, he repented of his sins and trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord. Today, while also working as a surgeon, Levan also pastors three churches and leads a new Baptist Union consisting of 24 developing little churches and 600 saints.When I met him last August in Kiev, he invited me to come to Georgia for a visit.

My reception by the authorities was the warmest I have ever received in a former Soviet nation. Soon we were at the home of Ghia and Tanya Maisashvili, and their four-year-old son, Gigi. Ghia was saved while reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. At age 31, he has given up his dental practice to concentrate on reaching and discipling university students. Periodic entrepreneurial projects provide support for his family.

We met with six pastors and learned that there are only nine ordained pastors, seven ordained deacons and three missionary-church planters to serve their 24 growing churches. We discussed possibilities for literature translation projects, training, and missionary support needs. Afterward, we drove 2 ½ hours to the Caucasus Mountains village of Vazisubani where Levan and his cardiologist wife, Natasha, operate a free polyclinic for poor villagers and believers. After a delicious Georgian supper with special bread and warm fellowship, we slept under heavy comforters in the unheated upstairs rooms of their home.

We had an especially blessed Palm Sunday worship at the exciting Garjaani Baptist Church. It was founded in 1920 by Ilia Condaloki, who had been saved in a German POW camp in 1914 along with Pastor Levan’s grandfather, Ivan Akhalmosulishvili. Ilia and Ivan had been traveling throughout the country preaching and organizing groups of believers until the communists ambushed, shot and killed Ilia in the village of Sinadali in 1927.

After the glorious service, we drove back to Tbilisi for the afternoon service of the new Central Baptist Church which is also pastored by Levan. The new church was planted by a zealous group of young people and has grown to 40 faithful members. They rent the Armenian Baptist Church building for their worship services.

Pastor Levan is an amazing servant of Christ leading a new Baptist movement that is determined to take the Gospel to every community of their nation. However, as a young man, he had wanted no part of his rich spiritual heritage. It was in 1977 during his third year of medical school in Kazakhstan that Wilhelm Schultz, an ethnic German who had been exiled to Kazakhstan during World War II, led him to faith in Christ. Then Levan had to move to another part of Kazakhstan where he met an 80-year-old Russian pastor named Andre Andreavich, who had been sentenced to a Soviet Gulag for ten years for the crime of pastoring. Andre took Levan under his wing and gave him a thorough Christian education. In 1984, Levan returned to Gurjaani to continue his grandfather’s work and serve as pastor of the Gurjaani Church.

Now the Lord is giving us the opportunity to come alongside these wonderful believers in impoverished, war-torn Georgia, and begin to help them take the Gospel to their unreached country. Based upon the post-war population estimate of 3.5 million, there are only 17 evangelical Christians for every 100,000 citizens. Worshipping and fellowshipping with them left a deep, indelible memory. Please join me in prayer that the Lord will help us seize this new opportunity while continuing to provide for our ongoing commitments.

In the meantime, we are constantly grateful to the Lord, and to you, for all your prayers, support, and encouragement that make our ministries possible. We can never thank you enough.