A Surgeon-evangelist in the Republic of Georiga

— Dr. Levan Akhalmosulishvili, surgeon, evangelist, and missionary pastor in the Republic of Georgia.

By Dr. Bob Provost
SGA President

During my initial visits in 1989 and 1990 with the zealous pastors of the Soviet Union and their church families, I was deeply moved and captivated by their devotion to Christ. There were five 2-3 hour worship services each week — joyfully attended by all members and their families.   Everyone was singing all the verses of all the hymns from memory … and often in parts. In the corporate prayer sessions, people were competing for who would pray next … and no pauses between the prayers. And so much more.

Dr. Levan's church is vibrant and growing.

Dr. Levan (left) excelling in medicine and evangelism.

Twenty years later, I was invited to the Republic of Georgia by the leader of a new missionary church planting movement. My experiences there have taken me back to my earliest experiences in the Soviet Union. Through a caring medical practice, Dr. Levan has planted ten churches. As a general surgeon, he currently operates a free evangelistic clinic for the poor while personally pastoring three churches and two developing groups. In addition, Dr. Levan leads a fellowship of six other pastors, who together serve 600 believers spread over 24 little churches and ten developing groups.

Earlier, as a young surgeon in a large hospital, he witnessed of his faith in Jesus so much that many of the staff complained. The director of medicine called Levan in to respond to the complaints. Levan requested that he be given the opportunity to address the entire medical staff. The director agreed, and called 120 physicians and nurses to the meeting hall.   For two hours, Dr. Levan preached the Gospel. Afterward, one by one, 20 doctors came to him asking him to teach them. In time, ten of them were saved.

Dr. Levan's ministry has even reached into the lives of Muslims.

In a neighboring Muslim country, Dr. Levan became acquainted with the leader of a mosque, who invited him to teach an Old Testament series. After several months, the regional Muslim authorities heard about it and he was asked to stop. Twenty of his students left with him and a new church was planted. Levan’s photo was placed on a wanted poster at the border crossing.

Dr. Levan never misses an opportunity for the Gospel.

As a surgeon, he has spent most of his life with seriously ill and dying people. Many times, it has been impossible to save their lives … and it has served to make him a very aggressive evangelist. Physical life and death are not the most important issues. The paramount issues are spiritual life and spiritual death! All souls are eternal. People do not realize that if they refuse to listen to the Gospel, that they are willing themselves to endure horrible punishment in hell forever!

Dr. Levan says, “We must take away their freedom not to listen!” He says that we cannot worry about offending them. We cannot be concerned that they will reject us. We must make them understand that to reject the Gospel is to will themselves to eternal suffering in the lake of fire. May the Lord help us all to more fully grasp the importance of being lovingly aggressive in our witness for Christ!