Faith fodder from the mission field- an update from Iris Ministries

Dear friends of Iris Ministries around the world, I’m going to try more frequent short messages and stay in closer contact!… I’m at a “Catch the Fire” conference in the States, suddenly far removed from the mud huts and poverty of Africa where I just was. And again I see how separated the “haves” are from the “have-nots” in this country. The tension between these groups fuel most of the conflicts in the world today, and is one of the main challenges of missions and the work of God on the earth. But we are not just after redressing material imbalance. We are not even simply after church growth and increased wealth. We are after an indefinable something called “revival,” lots of it, in greater and greater power, that sets on fire and makes alive every aspect of our being. We are after a revelation of Jesus Christ that undoes what the devil has done, unleashing a glory that puts us in continual awe of a sovereign God who does not lack for initiative and is not bound by the limitations of our understanding and vision. He is not waiting for us to set Him free to work by supplying our permission, requests and ideas, but He graciously infuses us with His vision and passion until His own workmanship in us is a thrill to Him! Knowing His sovereignty, and in the healthy fear of the Lord, we take nothing for granted. We are not passive, but in confidence that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is sufficient in every situation, we run the race to win with fiery zeal. Using all the faith and strength we have so far, we pursue not success with corporate management in missions, but the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. We pursue an irresistible power that comes only with lowliness, patience, kindness and a love that does not fail. We pursue a presence and atmosphere where intimacy kisses purity, the radical outcome of faith in the power of the Cross. We pursue perfection in Jesus that results in a joy that no one and nothing in this world can diminish. In Africa we are not trying to prop up and sustain a revival however we can; we are trying keep up with the Holy Spirit who is racing ahead of us, igniting hunger like wildfire in country after country. Satan tries everything he can to stop us, throwing at us crisis after crisis just when we don’t feel we can handle one more. We deal with every kind of corruption, immorality, thievery, jealousy, false motives, insecurity, death threats — and even witchcraft in the camp. Administratively we are so far over our heads with our little staff. Financially we have been walking on water for years, so accountable to God that if we do notplease Him and He stops supporting us miraculously even for a day, we are finished. But we just graduated the students of our second Holy Given missions school in Pemba. Some one hundred fifty students from fifteen countries reached another spiritual climax in the cultural setting of the poorest of the poor. By day they soaked in the presence of God and the teaching of our many speakers. By night, in a stream of outreaches, together with our Mozambican pastors, they saw with their own eyes village after village coming to Jesus in response to the Kingdom breaking in upon them with undeniable supernatural power. Chiefs continue to grab our microphones and tell their Moslem villages that they will all now follow this Jesus, who has proven Himself to be God. Each week the Holy Spirit keeps using Heidi, our children, our staff and our students to bring hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, and enduring hope to the lost. Heidi especially has been given a special anointing for the deaf, and basically at every outreach she will send the people to bring their deaf from anywhere in a village, right out of their huts, even late at night, and all will receive their hearing. Every healing brings more excitement and joy, and eagerness to learn all the more about this Jesus. A high point for us recently was a baptism in Pemba’s beautiful ocean when we baptized a man who could not stop grinning broadly because he had just received a great deal of his sight back after being totally blind, not even able to see faint light looking right at the sun. And so we press on to what lies ahead, not content with what we have already, but electrified with an appetite for dimensions of revival we cannot comprehend yet. Our bodies and nerves may almost fail us, but His transcendent power carries us onward and upward. Our trust in Him is a gift, our life is a gift, our joy is a gift, our anointing is a gift, our initiative is a gift… We love Him because He first loved us… We run after Him alone because He will not fail us… Who will run with us? Who will catch the fire and burn with undying passion and joy? Who has been hopelessly captured by the Holy Spirit’s advances and cannot resist throwing their lives away on Jesus? Where are His fools? His friends? Who will see the world as He sees it, and respond as He responds, becoming one spirit with Him? Who has caught the fire and cannot stop burning? Urgent, hungry cries for spiritual help come to us daily — lately from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda… And from across Europe… We are weak, often tired, and not excited by more and more administration alone. But we are energized by a vision of unending revival based solidly on the Gospel once and for all delivered to the saints. We are sustained not by “secrets” we have learned, but by childlike, joyful simplicity in embracing the grace of God revealed in Jesus for all to see. Let us know if you want to help — in the Lord! We are unspeakably grateful to those who are already helping and deeply involved with us. We now look after 4,500 orphaned children — thank you for caring about the poor. Our simple contact is , or my personal email . We have newsletters, photos, and an ongoing blog at our web site , and more info at our admin web site www.irismin.com. Much, much love in Jesus, Rolland Rolland and Heidi Baker Iris Ministries, Inc. PO Box 275 Pemba, Mozambique Admin and support: PO Box 493995 Redding, CA 96049-3995 USA