of Nicholas Comninellis
Nicholas was raised in Parkville, Missouri, situated on the Missouri River just northwest of Kansas City. The son of George and Dorothy Comninellis, he was the first born of four children. George had immigrated from Greece when he was 19 years old to study engineering at Park College. It was there he met Dorothy Moss, a music and education major from Harrisonville, Missouri.
As a boy, Nicholas was active in the Greek Orthodox Church and in Cub Scout Pack 333. Together with brother Chris and sisters Maria and Daphne, the family frequently spent weekends at the Lake of the Ozarks on George's hand-crafted wooden boat. Twice the family also enjoyed summers living with George's mother on the Greek Island of Lemnos, where Nicholas learned to ride a donkey, pick olives, and play the bouzouki, a popular mandolin-like instrument.
Nicholas attended Park Hill High School, where he took advantage of almost every available extra-curricular experience. Especially drawn to music, Nicholas learned to play guitar, trombone, piano, and studied voice as well. He sought out leadership roles, and was voted student council president both his junior and senior years. His father had been an outstanding track star and soccer player, and Nicholas dearly hoped he had inherited his dad's athletic genes. Expending enormous effort in cross country and track, Nicholas pushed those genes to their maximum. But alas, he never broke a five minute mile.
During this time Nicholas developed several close friends who were part of a Christian student organization. The message of Jesus became very compelling to him, and this young man chose to make Jesus the security and the leader of his life. Little did he realize the incredible implications of that decision.
Resisting the temptation to study aeronautical engineering, Nicholas entered the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine in 1976. A combined undergraduate & medical school program, he graduated in just six years. While in college, Nicholas was part of both Cornerstone Church and the Icthus Student Ministry of Colonial Presbyterian Church. He was also invigorated by the autobiographies of Tom Dooley, a Navy physician who spent his career doing medical missions in Southeast Asia. Inspired by Dooley's example, Nicholas spent two months at the Clinica Evangelica Morava in eastern Honduras working with the renowned Dr. Samuel Marx.
Immediately following medical school graduation in 1982, Nicholas moved to Shanghai, China, where he spent a year as a resident physician in International Medicine. His daily work involved caring for patients at the Shanghai Ren Ji (formerly Third People's) Hospital. Nicholas studied Mandarin Chinese with vigor, and created friendships among Chinese leaders that have endured. Today, he continues to visit Shanghai each year to deliver medical lectures and renew friendships.
In 1983 Nicholas moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for three years where he was a resident in family medicine at University of Texas-Dallas Health Science Center/John Peter Smith Hospital. He became particularly skilled in critical care, obstetrics, and orthopedics. In spite of a grueling hours at work, Nicholas also became an instrument rated pilot, studied classical-style guitar, and was a leader in Hope Community Church.
After residency, Nicholas attended Midwestern Theological Seminary and in 1988 accepted a position in Angola (southern Africa) with the International Mission Board, SBC. Angola, a former Portuguese colony, was best known for its prolonged civil war, which began in 1961 and continued through 2002. The human needs in Angola are enormous, with hunger and preventable disease rampant in this otherwise very fertile nation.
Nicholas spent four years with the International Mission Board, first studying Portuguese language in Lisbon, and then working at the famous Kalukembe Hospital in southwestern Angola. Ultimately, he was located in Huambo (Novo Lisboa), central Angola, where Nicholas helped organize a mobile clinic ministry in cooperation with local churches. These clinics provided health education, vaccination, and treatment of common illnesses such as malaria and tuberculosis. Huambo was a prime military target, and he was forced to withdraw in 1991 amid increased fighting.
Nicholas returned from Angola to establish home base in Liberty, Missouri, with his children Elizabeth, James, and Joshua. He reinforced lessons learned in Angola by completing training in public health and preventive medicine at St. Louis University. Always interested in academics, Nicholas taught family medicine, obstetrics and public health at the University Of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) full-time through 2004.
Since 1995 Nicholas has been part of Shoal Creek Community Church in Liberty, who's emphasis is to make the message of Jesus relevant to our generation. He also works with Kanakuk Kamps - a network of Christian summer sports camps on Table Rock Lake near Branson, MO. Nicholas' free time is spent playing classical guitar, leading music at Shoal Creek, and pursuing his literary projects.
In 2003 Nicholas formed INMED - the Institute for International Medicine - a non-profit corporation to equip health professional with the skills necessary to serve in medical missions. To this end, INMED provides educational opportunities for health profession students and practicing doctors and nurses to study and serve along side medical missionaries in developing nations. INMED also hosts medical missions conferences and provides on-line international medicine study opportunities.
The best teachers are also active in their fields. Nicholas is part of in the medical ministries of the Kalukembe Hospital and the Lubango Evangelical Medical Center in central Angola, Africa. He continues to teach public health at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and to serve as faculty sponsor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Campus Crusade for Christ student organization.