Rolland and Heidi Baker are long-term missionaries in Mozambique, Africa. God has connected my ministry with theirs, specifically as it relates to impartation. Let me begin in 1997, where our stories meet. After fifteen years of serving in the slums of Indonesia, Hong Kong and London, and also serving eighteen months among the broken children of Mozambique, Rolland and Heidi were in desperate need of a fresh touch from God. I believe that just as God set up a divine appointment for Cornelius in Acts 10, who also served God’s people, God also set up a divine appointment for Rolland and Heidi that would take place in Toronto, Canada.
Rolland had visited Toronto before Heidi, making his first trip in October 1995. He was profoundly touched by God in the revival. Returning to Mozambique, he knew he needed to take Heidi back to Toronto with him. In July 1996 she agreed to go for the Healing Conference. On the plane, Heidi cried out to God, praying, “God, if You don’t touch me, I am so tired that I’d like to just take a job at Kmart. I don’t think I can continue in ministry without You touching me afresh.” She was very sick at the time, and her doctor had advised her not to travel. A woman named Sharon Wright prayed for Heidi at the conference, and she was completely healed.
The Bakers returned to Toronto in the fall of 1996, and God again touched Heidi. Then in January 1997, Heidi made her third trip to Toronto. I was there at the revival as one of the guest speakers. I preached a message that I have preached many times since called “Pressing In.” This is the sermon I have seen God use to build faith for an impartation of fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit all over the world. Its bottom-line message is that God is looking for people who are desperate to be used by Him—people who are not content to be average, but who want to be mightily used of God.
While I was preaching this message, about three-quarters of the way through Heidi left her seat, came to the altar and began to pray for God to touch her. I remember seeing Heidi praying there. She looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. Immediately I was aware of a strong impression to speak the following prophetic word to her: “Heidi, God wants to know, do you want the nation of Mozambique?” I did not try to figure out the word; I just gave it.
Heidi answered with a strong voice, “Yes!”
Then I said, “God is going to give you the nation of Mozambique. You are going to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, the blind see and the dead be raised.”
Immediately God backed up this prophetic word with His mighty power and presence. The power of God came on Heidi with such force and intensity that she was rendered paralyzed from the neck down for a short period of time. She experienced heat, electricity, laughter and crying and thought she might die from the power. This lasted for seven days and nights. This was the most powerful experience of the Spirit that Heidi had ever had in her life. It was the most intense and longest in duration, and it produced the greatest fruit.
What came out of this impartation is a saga so remarkable that it is perhaps the most phenomenal harvest of souls in our present day. Heidi and Rolland’s stories of miracles, divine appointments, provision, heroism and heartrending experiences could be straight from the book of Acts. They prove that Jesus Christ is indeed the same yesterday, today and forever! Through the Bakers, God has birthed a miraculous church-planting movement that now encompasses over ten thousand churches in ten nations, as well as over a million salvations.
It is important to be aware that receiving a prophetic word, as Heidi did, does not mean everything will suddenly become easy. More often, the prophetic word is what God uses to strengthen us during the difficult times that are soon to follow. I have noticed that there is often a relationship between the intensity of an experience with God and the degree of difficulty a person will face in fulfilling the call of God on his or her life. We must learn how to stand on the promises of the prophetic word. I will explore this concept more fully in chapter 7, “Radical Obedience.”
Another thing to note is that although the Bakers received their impartations over a period of time, it does not always work that way. God will sometimes move quickly. He works with each of us in just the way we need to best equip us to bring about much fruit for His Kingdom.