LOVES PARK, ILLINOIS (ANS) -- On January 6, 1934, a young immigrant from Belarus named Peter Deyneka, along with noted pastor Dr. Paul Rood and a group of Christian businessmen, founded what was then known as the Russian Gospel Association in the back room of a shoe store in Chicago.

Rev. Peter Deyneka, a powerful preacher known as 'Peter Dynamite', had a deep passion to win the people in his homeland to Christ. This passion grew deeper as atheistic communism strengthened its grip on Russia and her neighboring countries in the Soviet Union.

Peter Deyneka, Sr.

An historical biography of Deyneka says he immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet republic of Belarus in 1914 at the age of 15. A few years later, Deyneka repented of his sins and trusted in Christ as Savior during a worship service at Chicago's renowned Moody Memorial Church, which was pastored at the time by Dr. Paul Rader.

After his salvation and graduation from St. Paul Bible School in Minnesota, Peter eventually returned to Chicago with an overwhelming burden to see his people won to Christ.

In 1925, he went back to his homeland and traveled extensively, sharing the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. While there, he established a strong, enduring relationship with the faithful churches of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB), one of the largest and oldest Protestant denominations.

But in the early 1930s, Stalin intensified persecution of the churches and it became no longer possible for Peter to travel to his homeland. Convinced that there were ways to help the churches from here, he and a small group of Chicago-area businessmen founded what later came to be known as the Slavic Gospel Association, in the back room of Hedstrom's Shoe Store.

For many decades, SGA covertly distributed millions of Bibles and Christian books under the Iron Curtain into the hands of believers throughout the Soviet Union, while producing and broadcasting thousands of Christian radio programs over the Iron Curtain.

The first Russian language Bible institutes in the world were established to train the Russian immigrants in Toronto, Canada; Temperley, Argentina; and other parts of the world. The mission also had an extensive ministry to Russian-speaking refugees and immigrants living in various countries throughout the world.

Throughout the Cold War era, SGA founder, Peter Deyneka, Sr. traveled the globe holding prayer meetings, often all night prayer meetings, encouraging the Lord's people to pray for the opening of the Soviet Union for the preaching of the Gospel. His powerful preaching gave him the nickname, "Peter Dynamite."

Having poured out his life in service to the Lord, the Lord called him to his heavenly reward in 1987. Then, in 1989 the Lord answered Peter's prayers of a lifetime, dramatically surprised the entire world, and brought the Iron Curtain crashing down. SGA leaders and missionaries immediately began to seize the unprecedented new opportunities for reaching the 300 million people of the former USSR for the glory of Christ.

Over the fifteen years that have passed, SGA partners have enabled the training of several thousand pastors, church planters and church workers, as well as the planting of several thousand new churches in what is now known as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The ministry website states: "Our main purpose is to help Bible-preaching churches in these lands of Russia make disciples for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We serve in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. We serve the churches in these nations primarily through the provision of Russian-language Bibles and Christian literature, through solid Bible training for pastors, church planters and church workers, through the sponsorship of church-planting missionaries, and through the provision of humanitarian aid."

Today, President Dr. Robert Provost, the staff of Slavic Gospel Association, and Dr. Piotr Konovalchik, former distinguished president of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia, are marking the 75th anniversary of the mission's founding in Chicago.

According to Dr. Provost, this ministry milestone will be celebrated throughout this year through a series of publications and special events across North America. These include a major International 75th Anniversary Conference scheduled for September in Chicago, as well as 75th Anniversary Weekend Rallies being hosted by partner churches across North America.

In a media release, Dr. Provost said that SGA continues to serve faithful evangelical churches, both here and in the former Soviet Union. He added that much has been accomplished for the glory of Christ over seven decades.

"For 75 years, the Lord has been gloriously answering prayers and accomplishing 'great and mighty things' as promised in Jeremiah 33:3 -- our founder's favorite Bible verse. Through the prayers and support of our faithful partners, when the churches of the USSR were closed, untold millions of Russian-speaking people secretly listened to SGA's Russian-language Gospel messages."

He went on to say that millions of Russian-language Bibles and important Christian books were discreetly distributed to persecuted believers across the lands of Russia.

"Thousands of Russian pastors have received Bible training through SGA's Seminary of the Air, the SGA-sponsored seminaries and Bible institutes, and Antioch Initiative training sessions. And our mission's faithful partners have sponsored hundreds of church-planting missionaries resulting in more than 2,000 new local churches being organized.

"It is truly a tremendous legacy upon on which to build, and build we must, as there are still tens of millions of souls across Russia who have yet to hear of the salvation that comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

Rev. Yuri Sipko, president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB), congratulated SGA on reaching this important milestone.

"Our partnership with SGA and Dr. Provost has brought special blessings. They organized dozens of missionary and pastoral schools, and our churches have become strong through them," Sipko said.

He added: "We began to send more and more people to the mission field, and your support for church planters has helped us plant 1,000 new congregations in Russia alone. It is impossible to enumerate all things. We thank you and congratulate SGA on its 75th anniversary."

In addition to SGA's home office in the United States, founder Peter Deyneka also established related but autonomous SGA ministries in Canada, New Zealand, England and Australia.

Ruth Deyneka Erdel, the eldest daughter of founder Peter Deyneka, expressed her thankfulness for all that God has done.

"Today I realize that I grew up with SGA. What a testimony it was for me to see my father always moving forward, and to feel his excitement of seeing the work of the Lord expanding. The greatest memory I have is hearing my father say 'Much prayer, much power,' and then seeing him live by the power of prayer as he committed SGA and its ministries into God's hands. Just as SGA was born through prayer in 1934, may we meet the new challenges as we continue to take the Gospel to the corners of the world through prayer!"

SGA is an interdenominational mission which has been working in the former Soviet Union since 1934. SGA has served churches in Russia through pastor and lay leader training, sponsorship of national church planters and provision of Christian literature.

SGA is the official representative of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, and is a sponsor of the Eurasian Federation of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael's involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International.