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| Feb. 2 | Ps. 16; Acts 9; |
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| Feb. 4 | Ps. 19; Acts 11; |
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 Heidi Baker's Uncomfortable Message to America Heidi Baker is challenging the American church to reject superstar Christianity and return to the simplicity of the gospel. American missionary Heidi Baker is not a normal preacher. When
she spoke at a conference last week in Ohio, she delivered half of
her sermon while lying on the floor. She was clutching the
microphone while her forehead was resting on the carpet.
“I count all things to be loss in view of the
surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,” she
said, quoting Philippians 3:8. She interrupted her message several
times with the high-pitched giggling that has become her
trademark.
This was not your average, seeker-sensitive sermon.
A petite, 46-year-old blonde, Baker told the crowd at the
Encounters Network conference in Cincinnati that those who want to
be used by God in powerful ways must learn to relinquish power. She
said: “God told me once, ‘I want you to come up
to the lowest place.’”
Baker easily could have positioned herself as a Christian
superstar. Fluent in several languages, she is a gifted
communicator with advanced educational degrees. She also has seen
astounding miracles during her 30 years of ministry, especially in
Mozambique, where she and her husband, Rolland, have planted more
than 7,000 “bush churches,” five Bible schools
and four children’s feeding centers since 1990.
Just days before she arrived in Cincinnati, Baker prayed for
two blind beggars who wandered into her tent meeting at her base in
Pemba, Mozambique. Both men instantly received their sight after
Baker wet her fingers with saliva and touched their eyes.
Such astounding miracles are common to Heidi and Rolland. They
have seen God supernaturally multiply rice and chili to feed hungry
orphans. Heidi has watched paralytics walk for the first time after
they received prayer. And indigenous pastors the Bakers trained in
Mozambique have raised 53 people from the dead so far.
But Heidi Baker does not carry herself like a celebrity
evangelist. She does not wear designer clothes or arrive at
conferences in limousines. She does not wave her hand over
audiences, throw her coat on people or mail slick magazines with
photographs of her standing in front of crowds of Africans.
When it is time to minister to the sick, she often calls her
trained team to do most of the praying. Sometimes she asks children
to pray for the crippled and dying.
She knows that ministry is not about her.
“It is a privilege beyond price to see the joy and
affection of the Holy Spirit poured out like a waterfall on people
who have known so much severe hardship, disappointment and bitter
loneliness in their lives,” Baker wrote recently in her
online ministry report.
“From the freezing cold gypsy huts of eastern
Bulgaria to the 115 degree heat of Sudanese refugee camps, from the
isolated native Inuits of arctic Canada to the dirt-poor
subsistence farmers along the Zambezi River, we see ravenous desire
for God among the poor and lowly. Jesus knows their suffering, and
He will make it up to them. He will be their God, and they will be
His people. He will use them to shame the wise and make the world
jealous of their wealth toward Him.”
At the Cincinnati conference, which was sponsored by
charismatic ministers James and Michal Ann Goll, Baker rebuked the
American church in her sweet and disarming way. Because she lives
“in the dirt” among the poorest people in
Africa, she says, God has taught her principles from the Bible that
sophisticated Western Christians struggle to understand.
“God wants to tweak some things” in the
Western church, she said, noting that we place too much importance
on position, intellect and human ability.
She then demonstrated the solution to our dilemma by kneeling
on the floor again. “God wants laid-down love,”
Baker said. Hundreds of people—myself
included—put our faces in the carpet and asked for the
humble heart of Jesus to wreck our pride.
Being with Heidi Baker last weekend helped me reorder my
priorities. I was reminded that ministry is not about visibility;
it is about serving in secret. Ministry is not about giving people
a slick, culturally relevant presentation; it is about offending
the mind to reach the heart. Ministry is not about making rich
Christians feel good about themselves; it is about seeing the face
of Jesus in the face of a starving, AIDS-infected child.
Baker’s message made me uncomfortable, but the
squirming was all worth it. I’ve decided I want to go
lower—into a place of humility where the presence and
power of God can be known.
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 | The Seven Pillars of Health by Dr. Don Colbert What if in just 50 days, you could experience more energy, feel better, decrease your stress and enjoy each day? The Seven Pillars of Health makes it easy, outlining a 50 day, biblically-based plan to help you restore your health and reclaim your life. It is time to start tapping into God’s plan for your healthy future! |
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