In December of 1990 Bob Weiner had a vision of a strategy for helping to bring in a great harvest of souls in the Soviet Union. Starting with just 20 new Christians in late February of 1991, he sent them out two by two to 300 major cities and universities throughout the country, over 90% of which had no churches. The assignment given to each of these teams was to find one key believer with the potential for leadership in each of these cities, and bring them back to Moscow for training.
A month and a half later, in April of 1991,300 of these potential leaders were brought to Moscow for five days of intensive training. After being baptized and receiving the Holy Spirit, they were sent back to their cities to win ten more to Christ. Ten weeks later 2,000 new believers who had been won to the Lord were brought to Moscow. These too were baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, and were given five days of intensive training on how to win souls for Christ.
Since April of 1991, Bob has held 17 of these conferences attended by a total of 16,000 young Russians, equipping them to be future leaders of the church in their nation (Because it is believed that many came to more than one conference it is not known exactly how many different individuals were trained, but by a most conservative figure there were at least 6,000). These have since fanned out across the country preaching the gospel and establishing over 250 new congregations, some of which have already surpassed 1,500 people. During these training conferences Weiner Ministries International paid for 240,000 meals, 80,000 nights in the hotel, gave away over 200,000 Bible Studies and over 100,000 new Bibles or New Testaments, as well as paying for the transportation of many to and from the conferences.
Often with little or nothing in the bank, Weiner would commit himself to paying roughly $100,000 in expenses for each conference. On several occasions Bob would only have a few thousand dollars just days before the conference, but the Lord would always supply the rest on time. Once he had almost $80,000 come in the week just before the conference, all from unexpected sources.
Much of the support for this ministry has come from the often maligned “faith teachers,” who would personally hear from the Lord to send Weiner Ministries large sums of money for Russia, in one case a single check for $60,000. Regardless of what is said and written about these teachers, many of these will obviously have a great deal of fruit waiting for them in heaven—there are now thousands of young Russian Christians who are very thankful for their faith!
One of Bob’s most fulfilling moments came during the coup attempt to overthrow Gorbachev in August of 1991. Hundreds of the new believers he had just trained poured into the streets and risked their lives to take a stand for freedom, and to resist the illegal takeover of the Russian government by communist hardliners. The whole world watched as they stood before tanks waving their new Bibles, declaring that “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”
However, the religious freedom in Russia is constantly imperiled, along with the fragile movement of democracy. Still believing that the Lord showed him that this door of opportunity would one day close, Bob is working more feverishly than ever to lay a solid foundation for the future church in Russia.
For more information concerning this work you may write to Weiner Ministries International, P.O. Box 1799, Gainsville, FL. 32602-1799, Phone 904-375-4455 or Fax 904-375-6000. Contributions can be sent to the same address.
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