Guest Speakers

SGA has enthusiastic and gifted speakers available for pulpit supply, Sunday school, missions events, banquets and more. Following are brief profiles for some of our key speakers.

Dr. Robert Provost

In 1994, Dr. Robert Provost became the fourth president of SGA after 17 years of church ministry, college and seminary administration, and leadership in international missions. Since 1989, Bob has made more than 130 trips to the lands of Russia to serve and encourage the faithful pastors, church planters and congregations of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB), the largest evangelical church fellowship in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Bob’s passion is two-fold — to serve Bible-preaching churches across the CIS, and to serve congregations across North America by helping them participate in the wonderful blessings that come from partnering with Bible-preaching churches in the lands of Russia. When these churches labor together, the great harvest spoken of by our Lord is gathered for the glory of Christ.

Eric Mock

Eric responded to God’s call to leave the aerospace industry after 16 years, and began serving our Lord through SGA in 2002. Eric was a flight test engineer for nine years, and additionally led the engineering team integrating flight computers on the initial International Space Station segments. It was during his work on the Space Station program in 1995 that he first traveled to Moscow, Russia.

He now serves as SGA’s vice president of ministry operations, and travels extensively throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to encourage and serve local, national Bible-preaching churches. He oversees SGA ministries across Russia and her neighboring countries — ministries that equip these churches to make disciples and see lives eternally changed by the Gospel.  Eric has a commitment to the local church wherever God places him, and by God’s grace, is also a ‘bi-vocational’ missionary pastor of a local IFCA church plant.  Eric and his wife Kristi, along with their family, live in Pecatonica, Ill.

Dr. Roman Dechtiarenko

Dr. Roman Dechtiarenko is the leading Russian-speaking teacher of Bible and theology serving SGA-sponsored seminaries and Bible institutes throughout the lands of Russia. He is also frequently in demand here in North America as a missions speaker and preacher of the Gospel.

For more than ten years, Dr. Dechtiarenko has traveled each month from school to school as SGA’s itinerant Bible teacher. His many theological courses have been reproduced in audio and video formats, and a number of them have been published in book form for ongoing use by Russian Bible and pastoral students. The passion of Roman’s heart is to . . . teach faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

Dr. Richard Kelley

Building upon a strong history of church missions leadership, Dick joined SGA in 1996. He oversees translation, production, and distribution of literature for evangelical churches and training schools across the former Soviet Union. He has traveled extensively in those countries serving pastors and church planters. Dick serves on SGA’s church relations team, and loves to share his passion for the Slavic people, as well as assisting churches in developing and refining their mission strategy. He lives in Rockford, Illinois, along with his wife, Barb.

Keenan Beere

Keenan has served with SGA since 2003, presently as coordinator of all SGA training ministries. He is in constant contact with SGA-sponsored seminaries and Bible institutes, and assists the Antioch Initiative. Keenan holds a Master of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary and a bachelors degree in accounting. He also serves in the teaching ministry of Maywood Evangelical Free Church in Rockford, Illinois. Keenan and his wife, Rachel, and their son, Andre, live in Loves Park, Illinois.

Joel Griffith

Joel Griffith has been with SGA since 1993 in a variety of capacities. Today he serves as our mission’s communications manager. Joel came to SGA after a radio career that began in 1978, last serving as news director of The Christian Communication Network stations (WQFL/WGSL) in Rockford, Illinois. He serves on the board of The Institute for Christian Apologetics, and co-hosts a weekly apologetics-related program on local radio and the Internet. Since joining the SGA team, Joel has been to Russia and Belarus several times, and keeps a close eye on global developments that could potentially have impact on Christian ministry. He lives near Cedarville, Illinois.