A Mennonite pastor and a United States Marine might be an unlikely duo, but they're a team that was recently awarded a million dollar prize.

Pastor Greg Wiens grew up in Glenlea, Manitoba, and is now a Mennonite pastor in Saskatchewan. Kevin White is an American Marine that invented adjustable eyeglasses that allow patients to self-administer vision tests, and an easy snap-in system to provide people in developing countries with eyewear. "The number one reason why there's not eyeglasses in the world is because there's no access to eye doctors," according to Wiens.

Wiens read about White's invention almost 10 years ago in the National Geographic. "I went 'Wow, that's really neat,' and then I went to bed," he says. But that evening, in his sleep, and for three nights in a row, Wiens says that God spoke to him through the same dream.

"In the dream, I was reading 10 years later an article called '10 ideas that should have taken off but never did.' And in the dream, at the end of the dream, it was the same voice, said 'If you don't do something about this, these glasses are number one on the list of things that should have happened.'"

Wiens got in touch with White and they quickly became friends. Now, nine years later, the invention has received several awards that are helping push it forward and into the public eye. Wiens nominated White for a National Geographic award for best invention, and it won that award in the fall of 2017. "Due to that, he got nominated for an award from an organization called WeWork . . . a global organization that helps new inventors." Just before Christmas White found out that he was the last finalist of 13 in the competition.

Last week, in New York City, Wiens travelled with White who presented his invention to the panel. Wiens spoke for two minutes on how he's seen the invention in action in the mission field. Wiens said that the other inventions were all incredible, and in fact, the panel had a hard time choosing a winner. They eventually handed out more prize money than originally intended, including two grand prizes of $1 million.

"What is one of the most remembered miracles that Jesus does? Healing the blind!"

White's adjustable eyeglasses was one of those million dollar winners. White's first prize meant they were able to ramp up production of the glasses and kits.

To date, the inventor has handed at 60,000 pairs of glasses. Now with the million dollar prize, Wiens believes that White's organization may be able to give away a million pairs of glasses in the upcoming year.

Wiens says that lack of access to eyeglasses has a surprisingly large economic effect on people.

"If you can't see, you can't work properly. Economically it is enormous. What is one of the most remembered miracles that Jesus does? Healing the blind! That's Kevin's favourite story in the Bible because literally, we've seen people who couldn't see anymore, who were a financial drain on their family because they couldn't work. And they became not just active members in the family, but leaders in the family again. Literally two dollars for a nice pair of glasses."

Wiens is excited to see the kits getting into the hands of faith groups. Churches, especially in Canada, have been showing interest in getting the kits to take on mission trips with him.

Canadians can contact Wiens at gregorjwiens[at]gmail[dot]com. White's website is gv2020.org.