Oscar Wiens and his brother started a chicken farm in Saskatchewan in the late 1960s, which quickly grew to include multiple barns and a feed plant. He was a good husband, an attentive father, a savvy businessman, and a faithful follower of Jesus.
Oscar also had a secret, one that he took to the grave. In 2003, he passed away at the age of 79.
“I found out at his funeral,” confessed his grandson, Matt Braun, who works with Multiply in Manitoba. “I was shocked. Many of us were. We had no idea what Grandpa had been up to.”
“I found out at his funeral. I was shocked. Many of us were. We had no idea what Grandpa had been up to.”
Matt’s grandfather, Oscar, was born in 1923 in Ukraine. His family immigrated to Canada when he was only two years old and eventually settled in Manitoba, where he and his four siblings grew up during tough economic times. However, Oscar faced the challenge with an entrepreneurial spirit. Even as teenagers, Oscar and his youngest brother, Ted, were hauling eggs from local farms to sell to grocery stores in Winnipeg.
After getting married in 1975, Oscar and his wife, Elsie, moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, where the brothers’ business evolved. Before long, they set up a specialized egg production unit in the province. In time, O&T Poultry (Oscar and Ted) had contracts with Safeway and Campbell Soup, with ventures reaching as far as Africa, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong, the Caribbean, and Russia. The brothers were, as they say, living the dream.
However, Oscar had other dreams, dreams which very few people knew about.
“To me, he was just grandpa,” Matt shared. “He was the guy who would sit at the Sunday table after lunch and talk quietly with family members for hours, the guy who would sit me on top of an old wooden mandarin orange crate in his truck and take me and my mom—his daughter—out for hotdogs and ice cream at the local Dairy Queen.”
As members of the Parliament Community Church in Regina, Oscar and Ted were always keeping an eye out for young people in need of summer jobs. But Oscar was not just interested in developing rugged farmhands, he was looking to develop future church leaders.
“Working on the farm was grueling,” Matt recalled. “All us kids did it at one time or another—shoveling manure, hauling feed, stacking eggs. Grampa would work alongside us and shoot the breeze. Sometimes he would sit us down in the egg cooler and ask a few questions.”
For some of the young men that Oscar employed, the questions were more targeted: What was their relationship with Jesus like? Were they thinking about Bible College or seminary? Back then, very few of these young men had the financial resources to pursue a seminary education.
“That was grandpa’s big secret,” Matt said. “The one I never knew about until after he died.”
For a long time, Oscar had been quietly funding the education of young people who felt God’s call to service. It was only at Oscar’s funeral that Matt and other family members heard about people like Glenn.
Years earlier, at the height of Oscar’s poultry business, Glenn was a Bible College graduate, newly married, and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. “My wife and I had just moved to Regina,” Glenn recalled, “and I was driving truck. We were also volunteering with youth at Parliament Community Church, where Oscar and his brother, Ted, attended. The next thing I know, I’m hauling eggs for O&T Poultry.”
“Oscar played this oversized role in my life. He inspired me to pay it forward, to invest in people with no strings attached.”
Glenn remembered the day when Oscar sat him down in the egg cooler. “I was sure I was about to be fired,” Glenn said. “After all, in the first few months of my job, I had backed the truck into the loading bay and smashed 750 dozen eggs!”
However, Oscar had something else in mind. “At first, he just wanted to chew the fat, like always,” said Glenn. “Somehow, the subject went from eggs to cars to commodity futures to seminary. Had I thought about going? At the time, I wasn’t sure.”
Glenn dodged the question. He told Oscar that, even if he wanted to go, there was no way he could afford it. “Then Oscar pulled out a blank cheque,” Glenn recalled, “and quietly asked me how much I needed. Well, there went my excuses!”
Soon after, Glenn and his wife found themselves at the MB Seminary in Fresno, California and, eventually, in full-time service. He never forgot what Oscar did for them.
“Oscar played this oversized role in my life,” Glenn acknowledged. “He inspired me to pay it forward, to invest in people with no strings attached.”
Now Glenn is a pastor in Denver, Colorado. “To think it all started in the egg cooler,” he said chuckling.
“I never knew about Glenn,” said Matt. “I bet Grandpa never told a soul. That’s just the kind of man he was.”
Oscar continued to be that kind of man, right up until the moment of his death.
“It was at the hospital,” Matt related. “We were all gathered around him, the whole family. No one expected him to wake up or speak, but he did! He looked around, saw me, and said, ‘Matt, I want you to pray for the family now.’ I was only twenty-two! It was an honor, sure, but it was also nerve-wracking!”
In the hospital, young Matt drew a deep breath and did as his grandfather instructed. Not long after, Oscar stopped breathing. It was a sacred moment for all. Later, Matt was handed his grandfather’s Bible, at Oscar’s request.
“I still use that Bible today,” Matt said with a smile, “and think about the egg cooler.”
Different people have different roles in the development of missional leaders. All leaders need mentors, encouragers, people along the way who will believe in them and invest in their training. Oscar invested in Glenn and Matt. Who has done that for you? And who is God asking you to invest in?
