Anita and Peter Deyneka, Jr. Papers

SC-48
Deyneka, Anita.
116 Boxes (50 linear feet)
1951-2003 (bulk:1984-2000)

Introduction
The Anita and Peter Deyneka, Jr. Papers document the professional activities of two individuals involved in Christian evangelistic, education, and social service work in the former Soviet Union and among Russian-speaking communities.

Provenance: The collection was received by donation in 1992 with additional donations in subsequent years.

Restrictions: There are no restrictions on this collection. Duplication may be restricted if copying could cause damage to items.

Collection Description
The Anita and Peter Deyneka, Jr. Papers comprise eleven series: Biography, Published Material, Unpublished Material, Correspondence/Faxes, Conference, Media, Speeches/Lectures, Ministries, Secondary, WRF, and Memorabilia.

The bulk of the collection is found in the latter portions of the series with Ministries, Secondary and WRF occupying three-quarters of the collection. These series document the activities of the Deyneka’s various internal and external activities. Ministries includes records from the Institute of Soviet and East European Studies, the education “arm” of the Slavic Gospel Association. Missions and other Russian-related organizations are represented in these series.

The Secondary series contains materials about the Deynekas and their work, as well as related-documents collected by them.

Another large portion of the collection can be found in various media. Audio and videotapes are plentiful. Several boxes of photographs are also found in the collection.

The remainder of the series documents the communication and writing activities of the Deynekas. This includes numerous boxes of Speeches and Lectures along with support and research for the lectures.

Biographical/Historical Sketch
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. 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.

Anita Marson Deyneka, the daughter of Frank and Ada Marson, was born July 7, 1942 in Seattle, Washington and grew up in an isolated rural community in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. In 1966 she received a bachelor of arts degree (summa cum laude) from Seattle Pacific University and a masters degree from Mundelein College in 1982.

After high school Deyneka spent summers as a typist for the U.S. Foreign Service. Her career in missions began in radio and television in Taipei, Taiwan in 1966. After teaching English in Washington state for two years she began her long relationship with Slavic Gospel Association, and later Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries (founded in 1991), in 1968.

Together with her, now deceased husband Peter, she has written seven books, numerous articles in magazines, newspapers and other periodicals relating to missions, including Tanya and the Underground (1973), Alexi’s Secret Mission (1975), Christians in the Shadow of the Kremlin (1974) and A Song in Siberia (1977).

Anita Deyneka has spoken in many churches and at other events such as Inter Varsity Urbana, and has been interviewed on Christian radio and television programs such as Focus on the Family, Chapel of the Air, and BBC Book Review. During the Soviet years she taught occasional courses in the area of missions in the USSR at Wheaton Graduate School, Fuller Seminary, and Biola.

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