Author Profile
Rolland and Heidi Baker
Rolland and Heidi Baker began Iris Ministries, Inc., an interdenominational mission, in 1980 and have been missionaries for the past twenty-five years. They were both ordained as ministers in 1985 after completing their BA and MA degrees at Southern California College in Biblical Studies and Church Leadership. Rolland is a third-generation missionary born and raised in China and Taiwan. He was greatly influenced by his grandfather, H.A. Baker, who wrote "Visions Beyond the Veil," an account of the extended visions of heaven and hell that children received in his remote orphanage in southwest China two generations ago.
Heidi was powerfully called to the mission field when she was sixteen and living on an Indian reservation as an American Field Service student. She was led to the Lord by a Navajo preacher. Several months later she was taken up in a vision for several hours and heard the Lord speak to her and tell her to be a minister and a missionary to Africa, Asia and England.
Today Rolland and Heidi cry out for a continuation of the visitation of God experienced by the children of H.A. Baker's orphanage in China long ago. That is beginning to happen, and more testimonies are accummulating than can be communicated! May the Word of God spread in power to the remote corners of the world, and may the the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind, people who have never before tasted the goodness of God, be drawn the King's great banquet!
Website: www.irismin.org | Books here
Article Archive here
Merry Christmas - Rolland & Heidi Baker
Merry Christmas to our Iris family and friends!
Heidi and I are now at our Redding, California, miracle mountain house by Lake Shasta, greatly enjoying one of our rare and brief times of rest, though our main home is still our amazing, funky, "Robinson Crusoe-style" house on the beach in Pemba! We celebrated Christmas with hundreds and hundreds of children and coworkers in Mozambique. It was a joy!
Our son Elisha, 28, and our daughter Crystalyn, 23 (along with our son-in-love Brock), are with us too. This is wonderful family time for us, and a chance for us to reflect and savor the extraordinary ways Jesus has blessed us and our ministry this past year. On this Christmas Eve we focus all the more on the author and finisher of our faith, our Perfect Savior and fountain of life, Jesus Himself!
That our God would come into our world as a baby, just as we come, and choose to display Himself as a pure and humble human being, is the Great News that we spend our lives proclaiming. May you be supernaturally filled yet again this day with overflowing love, peace and joy as we treasure Him in our hearts. Truly He loves us with an everlasting love. And through us and all of you He has made new creatures of a multitude among "the least of these" in Africa and around the world. Thank you for helping Iris bring physical and spiritual transformation where there was no hope.
We are so grateful and blessed to have you in our lives, connected together in many ways, and look forward to experiencing far more in the Lord as we press on to what lies ahead! May you have the best Christmas you have ever had, and know that you are remembered and appreciated! Your good works, fervent interest, generosity and participation with us in the Gospel continue to bear good fruit.
“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done" (Rev. 22:12).
Much, much love in Jesus,
Rolland and Heidi
Here's a photo of Heidi telling the Christmas story to her friends, right on the floor of a simple church and school building we built in this remote village, accessible only by boat. The village built us our own mud hut so we could stay more often.
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Latest News From Iris - Rolland Baker
Photo gallery
A kaleidoscope of photos presenting more views of our life and work in Africa: our Iris global team meetings; colorful African worshipers clothed with humility, hunger and joy; secure and happy children; bush conferences in the dirt; healing prayer; the beauty of our natural environment; birthday parties at the beach; riot damage; our recently crashed Cessna aircraft (story below!)...
Iris global leadership meetings in Pemba
It was an unlikely spot for a leadership conference aiming for global revival! Hidden away in our cozy little African prayer hut on the beach, with stiff ocean breezes whipping our crude canvas walls, we gathered together to represent our worldwide Iris family. Far out of town on a rough, sandy road under clear, brilliant African sky by day and under a starry southern array with a bright moon by night, we met with God and melted together in His Presence. The natural ambience felt wild, raw and peaceful; the spiritual ambience was a milestone in our Iris history.
For the first time we convened our key Iris leaders from bases around the world to pray, soak, worship, dream and find unity together. Well over one hundred missionaries and nationals from dozens of countries descended on little Pemba in our remote corner of Africa. For days we ate and drank, wept, laughed and celebrated together as we built each other up with faith-building encouragement and testimonies. We were so honored to have Bill Johnson as our guest speaker, and he brought such an atmosphere of depth and holy presence. We were awed as we began to grasp the extent of what God has been doing among us, and the strength of our family bonding. We as a missions-oriented body are in fact enjoying God and our life of service to Him to a degree Heidi and I never anticipated thirty years ago when we first headed for the mission field.
The meetings were also a chance for us as leaders to articulate like never before what it is that makes Iris "Iris." The word is Greek and also Portuguese for "rainbow," as Heidi and I began as a Christian dance-drama ministry called "Rainbow Productions." We saw our different creative talents as colors of a rainbow that the "Son" shines through, giving a beautiful result.
We "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3), and have never tried to emphasize anything that is new, unique, clever or different. We try not to be controversial, and share with all Christian streams what no born-again believer can argue with: the glory of the basic Gospel, repentance and faith in Jesus, the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, avoiding anything that would empty the Cross of its power, knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified when backed against a wall, seeking righteousness that comes from faith, transformation through adoption by our Heavenly Father, and understanding faith working through love as the only thing that counts (Gal. 5:6), with the hope of attaining to the resurrection from the dead (Phil 3:11).
As we changed course from an itinerant evangelistic ministry to stopping for the poor, we became more and more holistic in our approach to missions. We had no choice. When people are thirsty and starving, the holiest thing we can do is offer a cold drink of water and fresh bread. But we're not just social workers; we have fresh bread that comes down out of heaven, Jesus Himself! And so our ministry is not finished. We go on to "proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ" (Col. 1:28).
In the process we find that we cannot just be an orphanage, or a church, or a Bible school, or a humanitarian aid organization. We can't just hold bush conferences, plant farms and engineer micro-investment. We can't just specialize in education and technical assistance. We as a broadly-based international family must embrace all of the above, and more... All the while we share with Paul his attitude in Acts 20:24: "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me -- the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace."
But we have discovered that some key elements of our lives and ministry in Jesus are controversial, although absolutely necessary. We think they should all be normal in the Christian life and in Christian ministries everywhere, not special and unusual. Heidi and I began naively in these areas, but now realize we must prize, protect and nurture these values in our hearts, and impart them to others. If we lose any one of these values, Iris would not function and be what it is today. When they all come together, it's as though we have a spiritual chain reaction, generating life and heat in the Spirit! The following five values are not the only critical ones to us, but the Holy Spirit brought them to the forefront of our minds at our leadership meetings.
1) We understand that we can find God, and can experience intimacy, communication and companionship with Him in His Presence, if we share His love for righteousness.
Missions has often been taught as unromantic; it is disciplined obedience to the Great Commission. Prayer is hard work, feelings are irrelevant, getting the job done is what counts. We don't need spiritual experience to proclaim the Gospel. We can't expect immediacy and intimacy to be normal. We can function without His manifest Presence.
We feel the opposite. We've gone through enough fire and hardship to know that without actually finding God, in fulfillment of Jer. 29:13, we cannot do what we do. We cannot love with supernatural, unstoppable love unless we actually experience the love of the Father for us first. As the radiance and exact image of the invisible God, Jesus is a spiritual lover, our perfect and ultimate companion. Our first value is to know Him in a passionate relationship with a love that is stronger than death (Song 8:6). We major first of all not on mission strategy, methods, projects and fundraising, but having the life that the world needs and craves.
But neither are we attracted to mindless, impersonal mysticism, experience without content and relationship. We pursue passion and truth, not just eastern balance and serenity with no actual basis for happiness. We relate to God with our minds and hearts both; we engage with Him, and find life and joy in our interaction. When we find Him, we find and gain everything... Without Him, we can do nothing of real value.
2) We are totally dependent on Him for everything, and we need and expect miracles of all kinds to sustain us and confirm the Gospel in our ministry.
When facing great human need with our human frailties, we rapidly reach the limits of our resources, wisdom and love. We face overwhelming poverty, sickness, demonic attacks and every kind of evil. But with excitement and joy we aim beyond what we can imagine doing in our own strength. We run into the darkness looking for bad news because it is the power of God that gives the world hope. We don't apologize for seeking and valuing power, because without it love is incomplete and ineffectual.
Heidi and I began our life of missions with the dream of living out the Sermon on the Mount, taking Jesus at His word that we did not have to worry about tomorrow. We imagined addressing extreme human need by example, living without anxiety, free to bless always with pure motives, looking to God alone for what our hearts and bodies need. We turn neither to the left nor to the right to gain support. At every obstacle our only confidence is in the Cross of Christ, and the conviction that God is thrilled to be trusted for miracles all along our way.
We believe we experience miracles because we value them and ask for them, understanding that He will give them to us only if they will not take us further from Him. For His sake we will lose our lives daily, knowing that by His power we cannot lose, but will be sustained and become more than conquerors.
The engine behind the growth of Iris in Mozambique has been a marriage of love and power; we do not have to choose between them, but can look forward to doing even greater works than Jesus, while remaining in His love.
3) We look for revival among the broken, humble and lowly, and start at the bottom with ministry to the poor. God chooses the weak and despised things of the world to shame the proud, demonstrating His own strength and wisdom. Our direction is lower still...
We are not experts. We haven't learned how to do church and revival; we only know to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Pet. 5:6). We gravitate to the low things of the world. Competition and comparison with others don't suit our DNA. We feel no pressure to succeed and excel, but we exult in doing things well by the power of the Spirit.
God's ways are the reverse of the world's. We waste our time on the uninfluential and the few, stopping for the one. We show where God cares when no one else does. We go to the neglected, the forgotten, the lonely. We will go anywhere, if possible, to minister to the meek and desperate, the poor in spirit, who truly understand their need of God.
4) We understand the value of suffering in the Christian life. Learning to love requires willingness to suffer for the sake of righteousness. Discipline and testing make saints out of us, and produce in us the holiness without which we will not see His face and share His glory. With Paul we rejoice in our weaknesses, for when we are weak we are strong. Under great pressure we learn to rely on God, who raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:9).
Jesus was rewarded for enduring evil opposition without sin. Our reward in heaven will be for the same -- doing the will of God. We resist sin, to the point of shedding blood, if necessary, by considering His example (Heb. 12:3). Jesus is glorified now not because He exerted His power against His enemies, but because He overcame them with love. That kind of love entails suffering, the willingness to turn the other cheek, go the second mile, deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. He showed us the only way to be counted worthy, and the angels sing of him, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (Rev. 5:12). There is no shortcut to our heavenly inheritance. "Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Rom. 8:17).
5) The joy of the Lord is not optional, and it far outweighs our suffering! In Jesus it becomes our motivation, reward and spiritual weapon. In His Presence is fullness of joy, and with Paul we testify that in all our troubles our joy knows no bounds (2 Cor. 7:4). It is our strength and energy, without which we die.
The supernatural joy of the Lord may be the most controversial of our core values! But our aim is to impart so much of the Holy Spirit that people cannot stop bubbling over with love and joy! We pass through conviction and brokenness, even daily, but we are not left there. The Kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17), in that order. And in His joy we are all the more capable of compassion for others, unfettered by our own sorrows.
Heidi and I could never have endured this long without a river of life and joy flowing out of our innermost beings. We are not cynical and downcast about the world and the church, but are thrilled with our perfect Savior, who is able to finish what He began in us. We gain nothing by being negative, but we overcome the world with faith that we can cast our cares on Him. Joy, laughter and a light heart are not disrespectful of God and incongruous in this world, but are evidence of the life of heaven. We are not referring to cheap and foolish levity that ends in grief, but exultation in the truth and reality of our salvation, a powerful work of the Spirit.
We in these days identify with the captives of Israel who were brought back to Zion:
"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.' The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him" (Ps. 126:2-6).
Riots in the streets of Mozambique
Early this month riots broke out on the streets of Mozambique's capital of Maputo, protesting greatly increasing hardship because of rising prices. Bus transportation doubled in price, bread rose by 30%, and a 50 kg bag of rice climbed to half a month's salary for the average Mozambican with a job (14% employment!). On top of that, the country's currency was greatly devalued, very difficult for a nation that has to import so much to survive.
People disrupted life in the city by blocking traffic with bricks, stones, pipes and trees; upturning and burning buses; burning cars, tires and gas stations; throwing rocks at cars; smashing windshields; and attacking any who tried to break the blockade by carrying passengers.
Police moved in against stubborn crowds with tear gas, and began to shoot with both rubber bullets and live ammunition. Ten people were killed and 300 injured. Schools -- including our own, businesses and the airport were closed down. The violence threatened to spread to other cities around the country.
Things have calmed down now, but this keeps us aware that Mozambique, now the world's 6th poorest country, is still a land of desperate poverty for most. We have seen a huge number of people come to the Lord, and great blessing come to many, but we must press on until the Gospel covers the land. Join us in faith, and pray for peace, safety, godliness and prosperity in the face of tremendous challenges and demonic opposition. For fifteen years we have seen increasing revival in Mozambique; we will not stop now! Jesus, finish what you have begun, and make Mozambique a model for Africa in fulfillment of your promises... In the Kingdom of God, the best is always in the future!...
Losing one airplane, gaining a better one
For ten years I have written stories about how revival spread all over Mozambique in part because we had a Cessna 206 six-place light aircraft donated to us that allowed us to hold frequent bush conferences and do relief work at great distances from our home base. Mozambique is huge; its coastline would stretch from Mexico to the panhandle of Alaska. Roads are few, and most are very rough and nearly impassable much of the year, even with four-wheel-drive vehicles. Time and wear-and-tear on vehicles were issues that would have kept us from most of our ministry without the plane. We used it heavily, and I enjoyed flying it as my personal prayer cathedral in the glorious skies of east Africa!
But the devil tries hard to resist all that we do, and on the night of September 3, N4744F, my gift and hug from God, met its end. I was out of Mozambique, and our plane was being ferried by an American commercial pilot, Andrew Herbert, from Pemba to South Africa for service. Near the end of one leg of the trip, while beginning a descent from 8,000 feet in the dark into the city of Beira, the propeller broke off from the engine and the plane went nearly out of control. Diving at 2,000 feet per minute and struggling to keep the plane level, Andrew faced a forced landing in the pitch black night. Even with the landing light on, Andrew could see nothing, and plowed into trees in the bush. The plane was completely destroyed (see photo gallery), but Andrew miraculously survived with nothing more than a bad cut on his chin.
The crash happened around 7 pm, and then a couple friends from Beira searched for the wreckage for hours and hours, driving over rivers and swamps and getting stuck over and over, asking villagers along the way if they had heard or seen anything. Finally they were directed to the site and found Andrew at 2 am, alive, thrilled and so grateful to God for sparing his life.
The prop failure, which occurred after recently being maintained and signed off, is being investigated by aviation authorities. This again is a reminder that we are in serious spiritual warfare, and we need and value your prayer and intercession in every way. Our hearts and attention are now turned to the promise of taking delivery of a brand-new airplane by early next year, a Quest Kodiak. This is a high-performance ten-place turboprop specially designed for missionary bush applications. Its speed, payload, ruggedness, utility and short-field performance are just what we need now. We thank all of you who are praying and contributing toward this dream which we have had for so long!
Current projects
Our completely redesigned web site will be online in a week or so, and we will keep developing it indefinitely. It promises to be much more inviting and informative for all who want to know us better and work with us. We have a huge vision for taking care of many more children, and so we are initiating a child sponsorship program that will allow people to easily help us who want to be part of our vision. After many technical and government delays, our well drilling program is moving ahead rapidly now, making a tremendous difference in the life of village after village. We just bought a 150-acre, fully-operational farm at a great price, which will provide enough vegetables to feed all our children at our main Pemba base. We continue to feed over a thousand children and staff in Pemba, and thousands of children through church-based orphan care around the country. Please email me if you are interested in working with us on these projects.
Spiritual state, challenges
Our greatest gratification comes from seeing the Holy Spirit fill so many spiritually hungry hearts with love and joy all over Mozambique, and at new and spreading Iris bases around the world. We understand that such great fruit also comes with the reality of disappointments, attacks, personnel struggles and tragic failures. These will not keep us from being overjoyed with all that God has done among us. We live to experience His Presence, and to see Him bring about what only He can accomplish.
Specifically, our churches in our local province of Cabo Delgado around Pemba now number over 1,800, after eight years of ministry among the Makua, a people group of four million that were formerly considered almost unreachable by missiologists.
But we are also thrilled by the way God is using Iris missionaries and national leaders at many other Iris bases, and we want to make their stories and testimonies freely available to you as well through our new web site, www.irismin.org.
Our thanks
Again we want to offer our extreme gratitude to so many of you who support us amazingly, even in the middle of world-wide recession. We understand the hardships some of you face, and we owe you such a debt of love. We are trusting Jesus for our support, knowing that He can touch anyone at any time to help us, and so we are secure, whether we have much or little. But our desire is to bless not only the poor of Africa, but also our supporters. With Paul we have always been able to say that we are not looking for a gift, but are looking for what may be credited to your account (Phil. 4:17)! God's way of blessing both you and us is perfect! We love you for caring with supernatural generosity...
Apply to missions school, short- and long-term missions
We need so much more help. We welcome applications from any who know us for any kind of involvement in our work. It's hard to imagine any skill or calling that would not be useful in our environment. May our Father have His perfect way with us all!
Our spiritual warfare -- intense!
We are engaged in a great struggle for souls in Africa, knowing that our warfare here, as everywhere, is not against flesh-and-blood, but against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). Our battle has been indescribably intense in recent months, but at the same time we rest in our perfect Savior, who sustains us through the prayers of so many. We thank you for your rich participation with us in the work of the Lord!
Much, much love in Jesus, Rolland and Heidi
Iris July News - Rolland & Heidi Baker
Jesus our focus
"But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3 NASB).
We stay on track through all the differing ideas and streams in the church by maintaining our simplicity and purity. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. When pressed to the absolute limit, as was Paul, we determine to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified -- the only basis of our confidence. He is the dividing line, the stumbling block, the cutting edge, the point at which we meet salvation and life. No one in the universe is more controversial.
We trust and love Him because He died for us, and rose again on our behalf. He is the one who suffered for us. He paid the penalty for our sins. He purchased our lives with His blood. He showed us what love is. And so we are loyal to Him alone. We belong to Him, and not ourselves. We make it our ambition to please Him. If necessary, like Paul, we will suffer the loss of all things in order to have Him. We forsake every temptation in this life that takes us away from Him, even slightly. He is our greatest pleasure, our ultimate companion. We no longer love the world or anything in it, because He is the supreme object of our desire. Worthy is the Lamb!
We rejoice that we participate in His sufferings, so that we may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. To the end of this age we will endure evil opposition and glorify God by overcoming with faith proven to be genuine. In all our troubles, our joy knows no bounds. As aliens and strangers in this world, we look forward to our perfect inheritance, kept in heaven for us.
In heaven Jesus will be exalted for His obedient suffering, and in the same way we will share in His reward. We conquer by taking the low road. We gain life by losing it, for His sake. We humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt us at the proper time. We learn to love by laying down our lives for others, and in so doing, minister to God Himself.
It is impossible to be devoted to Jesus and not share Him, pure and simple. We cannot see Him now, but God has ordained that we love Him by loving each other, whom we can see. He is love, and so we cannot separate the first commandment from the second. There are many callings, but none higher than to give water to the thirsty and food to the hungry. The intercessors at home and the troops in the trenches are equals in the Kingdom. We learn to love just as we are gifted and called by God.
Missions is our joy, the simple, logical outcome of knowing Jesus. We love Him; others don't. We have life and hope; others don't. We have reason to rejoice; others don't. We have love in our hearts; others don't. We have food and clothes; others don't. We have health; others don't. We have family; others don't. We have no reason to be anxious; others are weighed down with cares. It is obvious that the calling of every believer in Jesus is to have a part in correcting these imbalances.
That may take us across the street or around the world. It is also obvious that we should be utterly available to God to go anywhere and do anything, at any time. He can and will make a way as He leads us. That is the testimony of Iris Ministries, for thirty years.
We begin each day by immediately exercising our faith in Jesus to attack every problem and pressure we have. We throw all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us. This sets us free to rejoice in Him always, and take a positive view of everything. Then we pray for the greatest, most miraculous, victorious day ever! And on we go through the rest of the day, loving and worshiping Him as we use our gifts, natural and supernatural, to bless everyone we can, as deeply as we can.
To us missions is the natural outworking of our faith. It is the way we return the love God has for us. There is no other option. Revival without missions is deficient. To turn away from the lost, poor and needy is to turn away from God. Our intimacy with Jesus extends to one another; such is the excellence and perfection of His Kingdom!
A landmark bush conference at Mieze
Dust hangs thick in the air, a shining cloud in the bright light pouring in from outside. I can hardly believe we're breathing it all. Rhythmic, pounding feet are kicking up every loose particle on the cement floor. Fire is in the atmosphere. Perspiration is pouring down every face. Life is in the building! Our Mozambican bush believers are dancing their hearts out, celebrating with all their might the dedication of our new church building in Mieze.
Nine years ago we came to this northern province of Cabo Delgado and started a base in Pemba, a small coastal town of some 50,000 people. The predominant Makua people group here was considered virtually unreached and unreachable. But the Holy Spirit backed us up with power, and kindled great hunger for God among the poorest of the poor, as we have seen Him do over and over all these years. Our second church plant was this one right here, just twenty minutes by road south of Pemba.
Since then our pioneering Mieze body of believers have developed into a forerunner for the rest of our churches across the province, which now number more than 1,700. Hundreds have been added since our last newsletter because so many national teams are planting and discipling. We can hardly keep up... But the Mieze church has become more than a simple mud hut with meetings on Sunday. It has become a modest prototype of community development and transformation that continues to progress every week. Here we learn what is possible in God for the poor of this nation, how the Kingdom can impact every aspect of life in a village.
The Holy Spirit came to Mieze years ago, and its fire is blazing brighter than ever. The holy Presence of God is manifested here in a beautiful kaleidoscope of ways, including healings that the people have come to expect and receive regularly. Right now it looks like dancing before the Lord with all our strength. But in today's meetings it also looks like deepest conviction; tears of desperation, repentance, longing and relief; quiet, glorious, weighty worship; and also the most energetic joy of the Lord...
The Presence in the bush of Africa also looks like homes, schools, farms, food, water wells, family, adoption of many children, fellowship, miracles, fun -- the full spectrum of life in God! Today we also celebrate a brand-new building, the precious fruit of a lot of hard work and patience flowing from the vision of our Pastor Juma and director Dr. Don Kantel. It is simple and basic to the extreme, but large and exciting, a community center of faith and hope in a sea of poverty.
We have very special visiting speakers, a working sound system (sometimes!), a worship team from Pemba, and the Presence of Jesus Himself! Outside we have pitched our new evangelistic tent, covering more gatherings for children and special groups. Crowds have converged on us from all directions out of the bush, filling the church already, and with both solemnity and exuberance we are dedicating this physical building for the use of the Master, just as He chooses.
Out of isolation, paganism and witchcraft have risen a people given over to Jesus, and today we are thrilled. May Mieze show the way for the rural poor throughout our Iris family. Transformation is coming, in Jesus' Name!
The power of the Gospel in a wild bandit town
It's cold inside my tent. I have a cot, which keeps me off the lumpy floor, but a crossbar is still jabbing me in the back, and it's hard to relax. I'm zipped up in a sleeping bag, with a tiny pillow, and I try to get comfortable somehow. I pray for a long time, just going over with Jesus what has happened tonight.
The dirt courtyard outside is covered with tents, all colors and shapes. We have a contingent from our Bible school and missions school camping for an overnight outreach here in Namanhumbie, which has been called the most dangerous place in the province, maybe the country. All is just mud huts in this small, infamous town, but its reputation is known far and wide. Our unsaved Mozambican friends in Pemba are horrified that we are here. This place has a long history of out-of-control violence as the haunt of ruby smugglers who come from as far away as Somalia and Thailand to seek their fortune in gemstones however they can. Only recently has the government begun to tame its wildness, illegal trade and banditry. Children are sold for less than ten dollars. Sex slaves are pregnant at eleven years of age. Murders are frequent. Rich ruby deposits in the area have produced a den of evil in the otherwise beautiful and peaceful bush of central Cabo Delgado.
We already have a church and pastor in Namanhumbie, but our leading Iris pastors in nearby towns have long prayed for a spiritual breakthrough here, and that we would bring teams to challenge the dark forces of the region. Tonight we had our second outreach in the town, after bringing in a big truckload of students on a long trip from Pemba. We showed the Jesus Film, as always, which had the complete attention of over a thousand viewers, including many children in the typical rags of Mozambican poverty. We preached our hearts out, and the response to the Gospel was enthusiastic, yet again.
We always pray for the sick at these outreaches, and usually significant miracles rivet everyone's attention. We did see physical healings, but tonight was unusual because the greatest need among the crowd was for deliverance from evil spirits and alcoholism. It is common here for demons to choke people by the throat in the night. Our team laid hands on everyone within reach. Relief and joy spread through the throng as the power of the Holy Spirit set one oppressed soul after another free. Jesus is the answer, always, for everything!
Our little camp, so conspicuous among mud huts, has settled down. Most of our budding missionaries and local pastors are asleep now. I ask Jesus to post angels all around us for protection. Many hearts have opened to Him tonight, the bound and oppressed are tasting the thrill of freedom in the Spirit, pastors are happy, and we have taken a significant step toward transformation of this community. Heidi and I are shocked ourselves by how fast revival is spreading in northern Mozambique. We have added hundreds of churches in recent months, and now total around 1,700 churches in this one province. We live to bear fruit, and thanking Jesus for such a privilege, I join Heidi and fall asleep too.
At first light in the crisp morning we wake to quiet chatter as our visitors emerge from their strange-looking tents before curious, laughing village children standing all around. Breakfast is coffee, bread and jam, such a luxury here. Nobody is in a hurry as we relax and discuss our outreach and the unique challenges of this place.
But more happened last night than we realized. Interest is building around Heidi, who is seated over in a corner under a grass roof interviewing a young man who has a testimony. He the nephew of the village chief, and he will never be the same. Since he was a small boy of around eight he has never heard a sound. He was at our meeting watching everything, but couldn't hear a thing. Heidi prayed for him, and then as he slept he had a vision in which a man in white came to him and put drops in his ear. This morning he woke up hearing perfectly, and able to talk again (see photo gallery)! Of course Heidi explained that the man was Jesus, and now we have another fervent believer among us!
Heidi and I have to leave by bush plane to other meetings, but we don't leave the team alone here, and arrange for them to be taken to a safer town for tonight. We encourage our pastor in the area and decide to meet with his people away from threats at his church building. So we all hike down a long dirt path past many ruby smugglers to a large, beautiful pond out of town, worship the Lord freely in the wild, open beauty, and baptize new believers among the flowers and lily pads in the cool water. Even those hardened men we met along the way softened as we stopped for them too. We cannot have enough of revival in Africa!
Back in Pemba, our Mozambican friends outside our church are beginning to understand why we deliberately go to dark, dangerous places where there is so much suffering. We are not afraid. God's love is not powerless, and we bring His Presence with us! Every day we apply our faith and look forward to even greater demonstrations of what He alone can do. So pray with us as we appoint a strong team to return to Namanhumbie and bring more of His Kingdom!
Thanks
Our faith has grown stronger over the years, and so Jesus is allowing us to face even greater challenges. We thank and bless each of you who have grown with us, and continue to stand firm with us as friends, counselors, intercessors, supporters and helpers of all kinds. We love you for making your lives and resources available for the Master's use. We are especially encouraged by the high percentage of our missions school graduates who are actively serving the Lord all over the world. Our national missions graduates are changing Mozambique through the fire of God's love. We are so grateful for those of you who are specifically shouldering with us the increasing burdens of our work right here in Pemba. You are each such a miracle from Jesus!
Our Iris family is now ministering in dozens of countries around the world, and our highlight this past week was our Global Team meetings here in Pemba. In our next newsletter we will share something of what we have learned and received as we met together with our amazing family of leaders. We are determined to stay broken and low, hungry for Jesus and absolutely everything that comes with His Presence!
We pray you will share our excitement at what the Holy Spirit will do next among us, continuing to overturn the worst Satan can do in the earth. Our labor and steadfastness are not in vain. Let's run the race to win and press forward together to the best yet!
Learning to love more than ever, Rolland and Heidi
Photo gallery:
http://www.irismin.org/gallery/24june2010.htm
Our gallery this time covers more of our revival life and environment in our remote corner of Africa. An aerial view of our Pemba base; the hungry, old and poor at our altars; a regional bush conference full of the Spirit; lines of village children being fed; a pastor raised from the dead; a young deaf man healed through a vision of Jesus in the night; a fervent, intent, joyful missions school; students and visitors in ministry; super-happy children -- a small portrait of a very big Kingdom family, built by faith working through love, the only thing that counts...
Children's Day at Iris - Cassandra Soars
Children’s Day is so much fun for everyone involved, just as Christmas Day is eagerly anticipated by both parents and children. Children’s Day in Mozambique is a holiday that occurs on June 1st each year to celebrate children. In Pemba, the Iris celebration always includes presents, a chicken feast, sodas and games. This Children’s Day was beautiful and the presence of Jesus was wonderfully present as we spent time playing and eating together. Early in the morning, our precious ones opened their gifts.
Heidi and the missionaries gave gifts to every one of our children, and this year it only took four hours to sit with each child while he/she opened his/her presents! The girls’ gifts bags were heavy with treasures, and they all received new clothes, many of them purchased by missionaries in America. They were so excited, trying on the clothes as soon as they pulled them out of the gift bags! The boys also received bags of gifts and were most thrilled with their new video games, making the Mozambican LELELELE sound of joy. The video games are all still functioning almost a week later, which is a small miracle. One small boy, Manuel, carries his game with him everywhere, playing even while talking to his friends and visitors and missionaries. He can’t unglue his eyes from the screen.
After they received their gifts, they all ate together in the refertorio, talking excitedly and devouring chicken and soda. The missionaries smiled as they watched the children enjoy their food and gifts.
We were also delighted to have 200 of Mieze’s children eating lunch with us. Mieze is a small village about 20 kilometers away from our Pemba center. The Mieze children will have another chicken feast on Friday, celebrating Children’s Day, and will receive their gifts on Saturday, officially making it Children’s Week for them.
After lunch our Pemba children decided it was so much fun to play with their toys that they didn’t participate much in the games that were primarily organized for the village children, who also came to eat a huge chicken lunch. The line for the food kept growing from morning until evening.
We had a visiting team from Global Awakening with us, and they stayed up late the night before Children’s Day, making balloon animals so that each child could have one. The children from the village left our center with big smiles as they carried their balloon animals home. Most have never played with balloons before.
In total we fed over 3,000 children and shared His love with all who came, giving them not only cups of cold water in His name but also cold sodas and chicken and presents. What a great joy and privilege to see His presence and love more and more in each one of them, and to have the opportunity to celebrate them in this way!
A few days after Children’s Day they had another great surprise. The visiting team who came to build a playground for the children finished the playground. It is a beautiful dedication to the life of Michael Ann Goll, and her two adult children came to help build it. Her daughter said it is a great way to honor her mother, because the playground will continually bring joy to the kids every day for a long time to come. She most enjoyed teaching the kids how to slide down the fireman’s pole or how to use the zip line. Each day there was so much new joy, and getting to see the children’s reactions was so much fun.
The memorial to Michael Ann Goll had been in the planning stages for the past year-and-a-half, and they brought most of the materials from the U.S.
Everyone can remember back to their childhood days when there was nothing better than spending hours and hours on the playground, making yourself dizzy on the merry-go-round wheel or swinging as high as you could on the swing, or going lightning fast down the slide. This playground also includes a zip line and a fire pole, which the kids had never seen before! At the dedication Heidi and the team blessed the playground and remembered the life of Michael Ann as the kids giggled, laughed and screamed in the background. Then Heidi was the first to climb up the ladder to the platform and go down the slide, landing on her backside, amid cheers, laughter and clapping. Pastor José and Aurora, the Mozambican pastor and director of the children’s center, were soon to follow. They reveled in this moment when they could relive part of their childhood, where most likely, because of the country’s poverty and civil war, they never had the opportunity to experience a playground. It was a gr
eat day of joy and celebration for everyone, and a precious bookend on Children’s Day.
Click Here For Photo gallery
Cassandra Soars
Communications Director, Iris Ministries
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Thank you for all that you have done to make days like this possible at Iris Ministries! To us, ministering to the Lord and preaching the Gospel includes loving our children in every way, providing them with an early taste of heavenly joy! They know Jesus and are worshipers as well, and have much to teach us adult believers!
Much love, Rolland
Iris March Newsletter - Rolland Baker
Pressing on to the Best Yet!
Heidi and I are back in Pemba after traveling since January on an intense ministry schedule that has taken us all over Asia, to Europe and across Africa. It has been a thrill to see the power of God fall on hungry believers all over the world. The Body of Christ is getting more and more desperate for God, willing to pay any price to experience His presence and companionship. There is no pleasure like walking and talking with Him, leaning on Him alone for every possible care and desire of our hearts.
How much more of Him do we want? He is able and willing to pour out His Spirit without measure. May we never lose our appetite for more righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit! All these are found only in our magnificent Savior, with all the intensity and fire of the author of life Himself!
This is not the time to be hindered by doubts, divisions and politics in the church. We don't have room for worrying about titles, positions, credits and recognition. We can't be bothered with concerns over support and publicity. We don't know how to engineer and program revival. We are dependent on our God like humble little children. What we have already seen and heard has raised our expectations to new heights. He is able to keep us, and finish what He began in us. We can trust Him with our hearts, our spirits, our health, anything that has to do with our well-being.
His power among us knows no limits. He baptizes us with His Spirit, and all things are possible when that happens. Deep conviction and repentance, sobs of love and gratitude, tongues and prophecy, waves of heat, purest peace and refreshment, super hunger for the Word of God, visions and visitation, revelation, healing, floods of heavenly joy, insatiable longing, wrenching intercession, singing in the Spirit, angels all around, weakness under the tangible, heavy weight of His Glory, a sense of wonder and awe at His presence...
We love His gifts, and all the touches and demonstrations of His love. They all propel us toward that ineffable goal written of by Christian mystics for centuries: union with God! "But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:17). When fruits of character are joined by gifts of power, truly our lives reflect His glory and presence. We need His love in our hearts. We also need His anointing to accomplish anything. We need both Word and Spirit.
We are still learning to go lower still, which is the only way forward. And we are still learning to stop for the one, in the middle of a sea of need. We are still learning what it means to be a friend of God, and value fellowship with Him and each other above all else. We are not professional, high-power, efficient missionary machines. We measure the quality of our lives by the depth of our relationships. We are learning to love...
Asia
We can't talk about all the things we saw and did, and places we went, but we can say that we sense a rising tide of desire for God that is opening the way to revival that will increasingly transform the nations of Asia. Ministry opportunity is huge. The multitudes are ready. The time is ripe for harvest. Time after time we saw crowds of the hungry and desperate surge forward to be touched and healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Churches were incredibly generous to us in helping with the needs of the poor.
We were especially encouraged by churches in Singapore and Korea, with whom we have developed close relationships over the years. They were so fervent, responsive and eager to help. We also had a terrific time in Taiwan, where I spent so many years growing up in school. This is Taiwan's hour. There is a stirring and rising up that is fresh and exciting. We took part in a major conference in the Taipei Arena that was an historic milestone for the church. May such hunger and seeking after God be met with more and more outpourings of the Spirit.
Back to Pemba
We made it back in time for our monthly party on the beach for all our children with birthdays in January. Again they were thrilled to race and play, kicking soccer balls and doing flips in the sand. We celebrated with cake and Coke, and lots of presents. They love to pray and worship too, and so we are hugely grateful to Jesus for transforming and enriching their lives thoroughly in every way.
We also had time to revisit Londo, where we are pioneering ministry to a village that can only be reached by boat. Again they greeted our arrival on the beach with excited jumping, waving and laughter. Transformation has come to their isolated habitat. Now we have a school/church there, solar Bibles, a teacher, schoolbooks and pens for the children, and most importantly, a knowledge of the Lord! It was a joy to meet with them, and teach and pray with them far into the night. On the floor, in the light of one dim bulb, powered by our generator, we felt the rich presence of the Lord invade their joyous hearts. Later, drifting off to sleep in prayer on our rope bed in our very own mud-grass hut, we considered how much wealth Jesus has brought to this simple, bare, primitive village. Every child and believer here is just as important as any mega-achieving, influential personality in the West.
It was great to wake up in the morning and emerge to beautiful skies, a gorgeous ocean, and a village full of people who have become family. Simply relating to them in the Lord is the stuff of the Kingdom! They of course also need the power of God in every way, and every day, so we continue to pray for their extreme needs. In Jesus we will keep ministering to them in word and action, and also to others in our over one thousand churches among this last people group to be reached in Mozambique.
On to Sudan
I made my first and very significant visit to our base in Yei, Sudan, led by our young, energetic, anointed and very happy Michele Perry, director of Iris South Sudan. Yei is not much more than a collection of dirt roads and shacks (see photos!), and the south of Sudan is barely functional, severely diminished by many years of war, but to us it is an exciting frontier that is showing what only God can do.
In the bush near Yei, Michele and her missionary friends and national helpers have built an attractive children's village and primary school that is our leading Iris ministry in southern Sudan so far. Through faith in God they have persevered though hardships, threats and dangers of all kinds, and now have a center full of the love and presence of God. Here, as in Mozambique, needy children have been gathered into the Father's heart, and now are filled and thrilled with the life of God. Their brilliant smiles, laughter, worship and play are a portent of the life of heaven from a child's point of view. We keep learning how to be as humble and believing as a child...
We held a conference for Iris pastors and leaders from around southern Sudan, and any who wanted to join us in seeking the Lord together. Their eyes were opened in a fresh way to the fire and presence of the Holy Spirit, and they widened their hearts to receive all the teaching we could bring them in a few days. Ernest, broken crying out to God on the floor was combined with an upbeat taste of the joy of the Lord. Intensity, freedom and abandonment began to replace programmed order in a way they had not seen before. Knowledge of the head became knowledge of the heart... To top it off, God multiplied food when a hundred unexpected children showed up at a lunch. Everyone had plenty, and a lot was left over!
Religious legalism, restrictive tradition and doctrinal confusion have crept into traditional churches over the years, even in the bush, and nominal Christianity is often the norm. Righteousness and the purifying fire of God must overcome corruption and profiteering in the church all over Africa. By example leaders need to resist strongly and categorically the witchcraft that is so prevalent, and even mixed deceitfully into the church. In this conference we took up the challenge to pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
We are proud of our Iris family in Sudan, and will count it a privilege to encourage them all the more as we pursue revival all over Africa.
Pouring on the fire, love and joy back in Pemba
Heidi was ministering with great grace, favor and the presence of the Lord in Switzerland and France while I was in Sudan. We returned to Pemba and thoroughly enjoyed ministering again to our own family here in our "hometown." It is a rich experience to watch local Mozambican mamas with their babies and brightly-colored clothes pray their hearts out at the altar along with our missionaries, staff and many children. Jesus knows just exactly how to touch each one with what they need at the moment. We will not be satisfied until every one we encounter is saved, filled and healed!
Just yesterday we dedicated yet another new village church near us along the ocean. It was a rough ride over a very rutted dirt road in our Land Rover, but we arrived in the village to find an excited band of believers waiting eagerly for us. They were so proud of their new mud and thatch building. From the youngest to the oldest they all celebrated and praised God with bright, laughing faces. We prayed the Lord's richest blessing on them, dedicating the building, the pastor, the people and the whole village to the service of God. This a significant breakthrough, because earlier this village was very opposed to the gospel and Heidi was stoned there. After a deaf man heard they dropped their rocks and slowly opened their hearts to the Lord Jesus. And so the family of God is growing in this whole province, one simple church at a time.
After the dedication, we all began filing down a footpath to the beach for some baptisms in the ocean. It was a brilliant African day, with dazzling cloud formations spanning deep blue sky over an even deeper blue and very warm ocean. As our faithful onlookers sang and danced on the sand, one by one our new believers waded out to Heidi and our Mozambican pastors and were baptized. With upraised arms and shouts of joy they came out of the water, consciences washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. New creatures, created in Christ Jesus for good works! Overcomers, heirs of the promises, destined for glory and eternal life! Heidi said the water was hotter than a bath, and she got stung by many little sea creatures, but it was worth it!
Our stirred and contented party returned through bushes and trees back to the village, and everyone feasted on beans and rice for lunch, hot and appetizing by now. Spiritually and physically fed, the village is ready to press on in Jesus. Remoteness and poverty will not marginalize this resting place of the Holy Spirit. May "the least of these" receive the best...
Thanks
For thirty years Heidi and I have depended on God to bring us support without our pressuring anyone. And all these years we have stood amazed by His faithfulness and your sensitivity and tangible love. We thank you yet again for believing in what we are doing in God, and for continuing to give, encourage and help in every way possible, no matter what is happening or how often you hear from us.
God is expanding Iris Ministries in response to exponentially growing opportunities around the world. And we are thinking not just of evangelism, spiritual revival and child care, but also development and economic transformation. Child sponsorship, micro-investment, business startups, well drilling and so many other things are part of our larger outlook, and offer new opportunities for service. As a new website is being developed we want to present these things to you in a more accessible way. Please write for details.
Bless you for your huge encouragement! We are looking for what may be credited to your account!
Much love in Jesus,
Rolland and Heidi
Iris Ministries, Inc.
Pemba, Mozambique
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