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Deyneka, Peter, 1931-2000.

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1931 - 2000

Biographical Statement

Peter Simon Deyneka, Jr. was born in Chicago on September 13, 1931, the second child of Peter and Vera (Demidovich) Deyneka, both Russian immigrants. His father founded the Russian Gospel Association, which later became the Slavic Gospel Association. Growing up Peter lived in the Russian-speaking immigrant community in Chicago and attended Carl Schurz High School where he was active in the band playing the trombone and the Crusaders Club, a Christian fellowship group. After graduating in 1949 he enrolled as a student at Wheaton College. He received his BA in 1953 and later received a master's of divinity ('57) and honorary doctorate ('96) from Northern Baptist Seminary.

During his time as a seminary student Deyneka spent a year in Alaska working with the Slavic Gospel Association a SGA as a village pastor and evangelist among the Aleut peoples. After graduation he returned to Alaska as a missionary. In 1961 he moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina as director of SGA's Russian Bible Institute, teaching for two years. He then moved to Quito, Ecuador working on Russian language broadcasts for HCJB. Continuing his radio work, Peter spent 1963-65 at HLKX in Inchon, South Korea.

In 1966 and back in the United States Deyneka became an assistant director of the Slavic Gospel Association. In 1975 he became general director, a position he held until 1991. Due to disagreements with the board over how best minister in Russia after the fall of Communism, together he and his wife, Anita Marson whom he married on June 14, 1968, created a new organization called Peter Deyneka USSR Ministries (later changed to Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries). He also launched a comprehensive ministry plan to train nationals to minister to every community of the former Soviet Union. The staff of Russian Ministries grew to over 300 staff in the former Soviet Union and 16 in the United States.

Deyneka has served a guest lecturer at Fuller Seminary and the Wheaton College Graduate School. He also served on the board of directors of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA). . He was on the Executive Committee of The CoMission from 1992 to 1997 and in January 1997 was elected chairman of the CoMission II Partnership Council. Peter and Anita Deyneka responded to the great need to minister to orphans and underprivileged children of the former Soviet Union by helping to found two cooperative organizations for ministry to children—To Russian Children With Love (based in Moscow) and The CoMission for Children at Risk (based in Atlanta, Georgia).

Peter Deyneka also co-wrote with Norman Rohrer a biography of his father called Peter Dynamite (1975) and with his wife Anita Christians in the Shadow of the Kremlin (1974) and A Song in Siberia (1977).

Peter Deyneka, Jr. died on December 23, 2000 after a six-month battle with lymphoma. He was 69.

Citation:
Author: Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections staff

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Collection 038 Ephemera of Paul Rader

 Collection
Identifier: CN 038
Scope and Contents Newsletters, sermon manuscripts, scrapbooks, programs, pamphlets, photographs, negatives, brochures, a taped sermon, slides, thesis materials, and more, documenting Paul Rader's life and ministry. The material deals mainly with his radio work and the organizations he founded, including the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle. Additional material includes items about Rader gathered for a planned biography, sermons of other preachers who spoke at the Tabernacle, newsletters and magazines published by...
Dates: Created: 1899-1996

Collection 237 Records of the Slavic Gospel Association

 Collection
Identifier: CN 237
Description: Correspondence, minutes, prayer letters, audio tapes, films, and other materials documenting the work of the Slavic Gospel Association among Slavic peoples, primarily Russians. Records deal with the early career of Peter Deyneka Sr.; work of individual missionaries; long range planning for the mission; media ministry (radio, film, both before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union video, literature); and evangelism in Europe, North America and South America. Collection contains...
Dates: Created: 1922-2002

Collection 285 Papers of Torrey Maynard Johnson Sr.

 Collection
Identifier: CN 285
Scope and Contents Correspondence, oral history interviews, scrapbooks, sermons, minutes, reports, photos, posters, newspaper and magazine clippings, brochures, audio recordings, video recordings reflecting Johnson’s life as an influential American Protestant from the 1930s through the 1990s. Besides documenting Johnson’s pastorates of Midwest Bible Church (Illinois) and Bibletown Community Church (Florida), his leadership of Youth for Christ International, and his activities as an independent evangelist, the...
Dates: Created: 1919 -2001

Filtered By

  • Subject: Fundamentalism. X

Additional filters:

Subject
Belief and doubt. 2
Bible. 2
Church work with youth -- United States. 2
Church work with youth. 2
Evangelistic invitations. 2
∨ more
Evangelistic sermons. 2
Independent churches -- United States. 2
Independent churches. 2
Mass media in religion -- United States. 2
Mass media in religion. 2
Missions. 2
Preaching. 2
Radio audiences. 2
Radio in religion -- United States. 2
Salvation. 2
Sermons, American. 2
Worship (Christian) 2
Alaska. 1
Aleuts. 1
Belief and doubt -- Sermons. 1
Bible -- Prophecies. 1
Bible -- Publication and distribution. 1
Bible stories, Russian 1
Billy Graham Moscow visit (1982: Moscow, Russia) 1
Boca Raton (Fla.) 1
Bulgaria. 1
Catholic Church -- Protestant churches. 1
Catholic Church. 1
Chapel Hour (Radio program) 1
Chaplains, Military 1
Chaplains, Military -- United States. 1
Chicago (Ill.) -- Religion. 1
Children -- Conversion to Christianity. 1
Children. 1
Christian literature -- Publication and distribution. 1
Christian literature. 1
Church and social problems -- United States. 1
Church and social problems. 1
Church fund raising. 1
Church work with children. 1
Church work with military personnel -- United States. 1
Church work with military personnel. 1
Church work with older people. 1
Church work with refugees. 1
Church work with students -- United States. 1
Church work with students. 1
City missions -- United States. 1
City missions. 1
College students -- United States 1
College students -- United States -- Religious life. 1
College students. 1
Commencement ceremonies. 1
Communism. 1
Conversion -- Hymns. 1
Czechoslovakia. 1
Depressions 1
Depressions -- 1929 1
Depressions -- 1929 -- United States. 1
Deyneka, Peter, 1931- -- Sermons. 1
Eskimos. 1
Evangelicalism -- Relations -- Judaism. 1
Evangelicalism -- United States. 1
Evangelicalism. 1
Evangelistic work -- Argentina. 1
Evangelistic work -- Australia. 1
Evangelistic work -- Brazil. 1
Evangelistic work -- Canada. 1
Evangelistic work -- Canary Islands. 1
Evangelistic work -- Chicago. 1
Evangelistic work -- China. 1
Evangelistic work -- Europe, Eastern. 1
Evangelistic work -- Germany. 1
Evangelistic work -- Great Britain. 1
Evangelistic work -- Ireland. 1
Evangelistic work -- Philosophy. 1
Evangelistic work -- Poland. 1
Evangelistic work -- Public relations. 1
Evangelistic work -- Russia. 1
Evangelistic work -- South America. 1
Evangelistic work -- Soviet Union. 1
Evangelistic work -- United Kingdom. 1
Evangelistic work -- Yugoslavia. 1
Follow-up in evangelistic work. 1
Fund raising. 1
Great Commission (Bible) 1
Honey Rock Camp (Wheaton College) 1
Hour of Decision (Radio program) 1
House churches. 1
Interdenominational cooperation -- United States. 1
Interdenominational cooperation. 1
International relief. 1
Israel. 1
Labor movement 1
Labor movement -- Sermons. 1
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