40 Day Fast...MY turn

A recent miracle in the neighborhood of the Iris Ministries base in Pemba, Mozambique has made Jesus the increasing focus of people’s attention.

This is from a recent June 2008 email newsletter:

A widow in the area had been ill for several weeks. When her condition suddenly became more serious, her five children and a number of Iris believers gathered at her house and were praying through the night. About 4 am, she died. While the children began to prepare for her burial, the believers — led by one of Iris’s construction leaders, Mossa Calisto — continued to pray. A couple of hours later, the woman opened her eyes and sat up. She told them she had been with Jesus and he had given her an hour to return to earth to settle her affairs and make provision for her children. She busied herself with these things…then she asked the people to leave the room, closed the door and died again! This account has been widely circulated and many are asking to know more about Jesus!

This is my favorite ministry. I LOVE these people!!

Here’s MY story…
I left the organized church in 2005. It was in the heat of a leadership struggle. All kinds of ugly things were going on. The ones in the church that wanted to press in for More of God’s Presence and service to the community were the ones that got labeled as trouble-makers. I decided that there really had to be more to the Christian life than what I had been exposed to this far in my 20 years of a church-going American. This didn’t feel or look like Jesus at all.
Then I read this book: you can buy it HERE

Wow! They are Christians: REAL CHRISTIANS!! They are DOING it. They are living it!
They are truly experiencing a LIVING and SUPERNATURAL God there in the dirt of Mozambique! (and elsewhere!)
And they are really quite humble and simple people. They are touching God and He is exploding things in the Spirit there for them.
It started about 13 years ago when Heidi Baker told her husband, Rolland that she felt they needed to go to the poorest of the poor and be with them. They researched it and they arrived in Mozambique unannounced, at the tail end of a brutal ten year civil war. There were orphans everywhere. God told Heidi to take in the children and He would supply. She did and hasn’t stopped.
Iris ministries started in Mozambique with a small handful of ragtag nobodies and God.
There is a garbage dump in Zimpeto, where they started…they regularly held church there…amazing things happen there. Its one of their favorite places to be!

Although they are MOSTLY in Mozambique the ministry now has presence in 25 countries! With over 100 permanent missionaries serving in these places. There is no payroll. Each person raises their own funds. All the money raised goes towards the people of Mozambique…

Here are the countries that they are in.

Supernatural healings and power are combined with meals and shelter and education and lots and lots of love. Often, there is an intoxicating and refreshing joy that sweeps through the congregation. If you are not accustomed to actually FEELING the Presence of God and the Joy and Peace…it might be strange! But I can tell you-its real.
And..... its God.

Heidi and Rolland are known well by the government officials and in most cases are applauded. Occasionally there is some corrupt stuff going on that gets in and causes trouble and reports false information about them. Heidi usually arranges a meeting that ends in the governmental official in tears and being totally blessed by the Presence of God…sometimes even healed of afflictions!
Her heart is for the poor and broken. She absolutely glows when she is with her children…any of her 8,000 plus African children…they are not orphans because when they came into the IRIS family they now have a Father that will always be with them.


I had the immense privilege to meet them thru my affiliation with Mountain of Worship. I am the person that arranges their international conferences. One of the perks I get is to spend time with the speakers driving them to and from airport, hotels, and dinners. The IRIS people are the most amazingly personable people ever! Really! Heidi, Rolland, Shampa, Surprise, Shara….all of them!

Heidi has such an exhausting speaking and traveling schedule on top of her responsiblities as Mama Ida as they call her, and yet, when she was in my car she was TOTALLY interested and asking ME about MY STORY and what Jesus meant to me…I mattered.

I got to serve Rolland this past year also and, once again, I felt like a flea in the company of such royalty in Christ. No fancy requests. No special orders of anything. They have been at our conferences to SERVE us. The IRIS family is all like that! Any of them… all of them! The towel that was in Jesus’ hands is truly in theirs.

When you visit, they don’t pull or pressure you into coming and staying in Mozambique. They truly pull you deeper into the heart of Jesus and once you are there, Jesus will tell you “where your Calcutta is” (in the words of Mother Teresa) Many of the visitors come back to their hometowns with the passion and experience of the Living God that answers prayers and displays His Majesty daily. Some have felt the call to go to the far reaching places. Some sell everything they have and go back.

On the Sunday I was in Pemba (and every Sunday) they invite the villagers to church and then lunch….and they come …and come….the dining area gets filled and emptied three or more times.
rows and rows of benches filled …the children eat (this pic only shows one side of the dining hall)
...and then...Hundreds and hundreds of villagers.
They know Iris and love them and get to see Jesus in action. With the recent global food crisis, there are more and more hungry mouths to feed.

They never send pleas for money. There are no snazzy posters or flyers. No one ever knows they have needs. Only God, their supplier and source….and He does it well.
They have trained over 3,000 indigenous pastors from the various villages at their Bible Schools and return them back to their villages with a newly built church building and a few of the children from the base. They feel that it works best if the culture that lives there teaches the culture there…and God moves mightily!

Consider a donation…Definitely read their books and visit their website!!

here they are with their biological son and daughter (their girl just had a Mozambican wedding celebration where they invited villages from all over and fed over 5,000 villagers)


this is Heidi's newest book...i already got my pre-ordered copy on its way

Here is their website blog: HERE
Here is their donation page: HERE

I know that someday I will return to Mozambique, a part of my heart resides there.

...................that’s me in the long pink skirt

The impact that this ministry seems to have is the feeling of family and belonging. There are no outsiders. There are no orphans. The open arms and constant giving is contagious and that is one of the reasons God is blessing them by multiplying their churches so dramatically. They are way over the 8,000 church mark…The impact they are making in the local villages where they serve is big. Jobs are created, Healthcare is brought in. Widows learn trades, Orphans get education and family…Pastors are trained and equipped and supported. Many visitors from over 11 countries are impacted with the way they live and act like Jesus in the dirt and want to bring that back to their town, city and church. I know that I expect more of God…He got bigger!!

you can read a bit more on the ministry here...a magazine article


and now...
GO visit my 40 DAY FAST BLOG DAY partner RYAN
he is talkin about one of my OTHER FAVORITE ministries....KIVA