SGA marks 80 years

International (SGA/MNN) — This week celebrates a huge anniversary at Slavic Gospel Association.

Founder Peter Deyneka had come to the United States from the former Soviet republic of Belarus at the age of 15. A few years later, Peter trusted in Christ as Savior during a worship service at Chicago’s renowned Moody Church during the pastorate of Dr. Paul Rader.

He began traveling and sharing the Good News of Christ. Then, in the early 1930s, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin intensified persecution of the churches, and it wasn’t possible for Peter to return to his homeland.

How could he continue sharing Christ with his people?

His solution came about 80 years ago, in the backroom of Hedstrom’s Shoe Store in Chicago: the young Russian immigrant named Peter Deyneka founded the Russian Gospel Association, later to become the Slavic Gospel Association.

For the next eight decades, God blessed SGA’s work, and more partners came alongside to support. With the help of many hands, it became possible to “rush the Gospel to Russians” everywhere, even in Israel.

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.

Since those early days, SGA has grown to become an international ministry with autonomous offices in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and England. SGA operates three regional ministry centers in the CIS, including an office staffed by nationals at the headquarters of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Moscow. 80th anniversary celebrations are planned all across the USA throughout 2014.

In the meantime, please keep SGA ministries in your prayers. Many millions are still waiting and wanting to hear about Christ. Prayer is the key. Peter Deyneka’s world-renowned motto was, “Much Prayer, Much Power; Little Prayer, Little Power; and No Prayer, No Power!”