The Importance of Fresh Encounter | Heidi Baker
Recap
Living Word welcomed back to the pulpit Dr. Heidi Baker to be our guest speaker. Dr. Heidi is a powerful minister and co-founder of Iris Global, a ministry in Mozambique, located in southeastern Africa. She and her husband, Rolland, led a revival that has transformed countless lives. Also, their ministry cares for orphans, trains leaders, and brings healing to the broken. Pastor Mac said, “They’re truly changing that part of the world.”
Dive Deeper
Rolland and Heidi Baker founded Iris Global in 1980. Their prayer was that it would be a gathering place for men and women compelled by the love of God to stop for the one in need.
The Bakers came to the Mozambican capital of Maputo in 1995 and with a small Mozambican team, they began to work with children in the streets and the city garbage dump, offering food and housing, church and schooling.
In 1997, they built children’s homes, a Bible school, primary schools, and a medical clinic.
In 2000 and 2001, Mozambique experienced catastrophic flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Iris became deeply involved in humanitarian aid, striving to bring hope and compassion to all of those affected.
In 2002, as Iris continued to send pastors and outreach teams all across Mozambique, the Bakers moved to the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Iris constructed a primary school, theological and language schools, farms, churches, centers for maternity and vocational training, community wells, and many more houses for youth and widows.
In 2019, Mozambique suffered natural disaster; powerful cyclones damaged countless communities in the central and northern provinces.
In the years since, Iris Global has provided millions of meals along with farming equipment, seeds, clothing, building materials. It employs over a thousand full-time staff of many more volunteers and congregations alongside them. Their newly built Iris University will open to students in the city of Pemba, Cabo Delgado. Their intention is that it will be a lasting blessing to the people of Mozambique, marked by integrity, transparency, innovation, and faith.
Heidi said that 99% of the people to the north are of another faith. Since Iris Global began providing food to those in the north, as it stands right now, 50% of the people have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Heidi shared how she felt so little and how could God use her little life. The Lord said to her, “I receive your little life.” Heidi said, “He asked me not to weep about how small it was anymore. He started to show me more and more people, starting to hold hands.”
She said, “And that’s what I see in this body. I see the Lord just joining the hands of His people. And we’re joining in this body. And then fellowship after fellowship, group after group, and we’re holding hands and saying ‘Yes,’ and the power of the Spirit is being poured out like water on thirsty ground.”
Heidi said, “I feel this service is going to be a “stick-‘em-up” service. ‘Stick them up’ like you’re going to surrender. You’re either surrendering to the enemy or you’re surrendering to the Lord. And He doesn’t want a half-surrendered life. He’s the author. He is the finisher. And I just hear Him say, ‘Stick ‘em up. I want it all.’”
2 Corinthians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
We can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received. We can comfort them because He comforted us. Heidi asked, “Has anybody ever had a trial? I want to tell you a stick-‘em-up trial.
Dr. Heidi shared a testimony about how a group of young girls were forced to sell their bodies for food. The Lord gave her a plan on how to get those girls out of their desperate situation. In the end, not only did all the young women give their lives over to the Lord, so did their pimp!
Read About It
2 Corinthians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”