Heidi and Rolland Baker

Heidi Baker earned a Ph.D. in systematic theology from King’s College, University of London—and that may be the least significant fact about her. Called with her husband Rolland to Mozambique, Heidi has been in touch with the Hero-maker. That country is a hurting country. Half of the children die before they turn five. Two-thirds of homes lack even a pit latrine. Five percent have electricity. There is no immunization. Drought, civil war, and AIDS have displaced millions. Their life story, written down in a book entitled There Is Always Enough, is enthralling. Between China and their lives’ calling in Mozambique, they invested a part of their lives in London, England. In the hurting part of the big city, in an environment not too alien from most readers, they watched God transform lives through them.

Heidi met the Holy Spirit in a reinvigorating fashion, and He, the Hero-maker, did His unique work in her life. The Bakers headed to ravaged Mozambique with little more than this Holy Spirit power, and from the beginning the Holy Spirit used them to transform lives, one at a time. Here is an account of one.
In Heidi Baker’s words:

Last week my daughter Crystalyn and I were out buying bread, and in the street we came upon a motionless boy dressed in rags and covered in sores. We thought this precious child was dead. I walked over to him and laid my hands on his shoulders. He woke up and looked frightened. I gave him some bread and began to ask him his story. Everista could not talk very well. He had not spoken for a long time. He did not know how old he was. He had never been to school. He knew his parents were dead and he was alone and hungry…. His body bore the marks of years of abuse…. He scurried along the ground more like an animal than a human being. I asked Everista if he wanted to come and live with us…. I took him home and washed his wounds. Crystalyn happily gave him some clothes and things to play with. We hugged him and prayed for him, and let him know he was loved.

Everista is one of many orphans whom Heidi and her Christian community have determined not to pass by. And they add up. Here are the numbers we like to cite about the Bakers:

These are the numbers of orphans they’ve personally adopted (8), the number of orphans living with them in their children’s home (2,000), the number of people they normally feed (10,000), the number of dead people who’ve been raised to life by leaders in their churches (20), the number of churches they’ve started (5000), and the number of years during which they’ve started them all (5). Did you catch that? They took over the management of a dilapidated children’s home—500 kids joined them. A handful of these children actually came under their roof. Authentic Christian community was cultivated and its contagious strain of Christianity has spread through to start 5,000 churches so far. And God has accompanied this explosive growth with signs and wonders!

They’ve touched multitudes. She has been a hero to each of them. To sponsor one of these children, click here.

See their website www.irismin.org.