Tag Archives: Times Square Church

Learning To Love by Heidi Baker; Rolland Baker

By Ordinary Servant | Published March 25, 2013

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Chosen Books (February 15, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800795520
ISBN-13: 978-0800795528
Price: $13.99
Purchase: Amazon | CBD | BN

 

 

 

 

 


Description

Missionary Leaders Reveal Behind-the-Scenes Glimpses from Africa

Continuing where their book Expecting Miracles left off, this narrative draws from the last five years of the life of Iris Ministries. Woven alongside fascinating narrative from Mozambique is teaching from Heidi and Rolland that communicates the distilled wisdom about the heart of the Gospel from all their years of serving the poor.

More than any of their previous books, this one has the most to say about what Rolland and Heidi have learned about love–whether in Africa or wherever home might be: finding intimacy with Jesus, concentrating on the humble and lowly, being willing to suffer for love’s sake, finding God’s supply of utterly needed miracles, and walking in the unquenchable joy of the Lord. Every reader will find incredible challenge and refreshment in these pages.

Review

I remember Heidi Baker visiting Times Square Church back in 1995. It was a 3:00pm service and she preached a touching message entitled, “Who will go?”.

I was a baby Christian. I had just started attending Times Square Church back then. The strangest thing started happening to me. To my surprise, I began to weep.

She did an altar call and I was propelled to go. I went and fell on my knees sobbing my heart out. I wasn’t familiar with the move of the Holy Spirit or anything like that. So everything was completely brand new, coming from an open and sincere heart.

I remember that day like if it was yesterday. I never forgot Heidi Baker, Mozambique or that altar call. There were only a few of us at the altar answering the call. I honestly thought I would wind up in Africa one day, but I didn’t.

It was refreshing reading Learning To Love and seeing all that the Lord has done in Mozambique years later.

Heidi and Rolland Baker share wonderful and encouraging testimonies of their work through Iris Ministries.

Granted, I personally struggle with the whole miracle element; the blind seeing, the deaf hearing and the dead rising. However, I respect the work that God is doing through the Baker’s in Mozambique.

I enjoyed reading the different stories throughout Learning To Love. The book is inspirational and I recommend it.

In conclusion, I want to thank Chosen Books for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review.

Heidi and Rolland Baker, founders of Iris Ministries, served as missionaries in Indonesia and Hong Kong before following God’s call in 1995 to Mozambique. In the face of overwhelming need, the Bakers now watch God provide miraculously for well over 10,000 children every day through their ministry, and many more through the Iris network of more than 15,000 churches, Bible schools, primary schools, and remote outreach programs. They live in Mozambique, Africa.

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He said He wanted to Kill Me

By Ordinary Servant | Published October 17, 2012

Last night I decided to go to church for prayer service. Before I was married and had kids, I lived at Times Square Church. I was there every Tuesday and Friday night and all day Sunday. I even served on the choir before someone told me they wanted to kill me.

I never told a soul. I just stepped down quietly from the choir. I mean, who in their right mind was going to stay in the choir after that? Maybe I should have stayed, but deep down, I was disillusioned.

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Early one Sunday morning, I was praying alone in the choir section when I sensed a presence. I opened my eyes to find a tall male standing before me. I recognized him, he was in his choir robe like me. He said he needed to ask my forgiveness. I asked him for what (since I never had any dealings with him). He said for wanting to kill me.

I think I was traumatized at that moment because all I said was, I forgive you. I can’t believe that’s all I said.

Why couldn’t I have told him, “Hey dude, what did I ever do to you to warrant your wanting to kill me?” I mean, wouldn’t that have been more normal?

Eighteen years later, I think back and wish I would have had enough courage to ask him why.

I went through a whole gamut of emotions and questions. All I was doing was praying. Aren’t you suppose to feel safe in church? I did not feel safe at all. I actually never looked at church the same way again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Times Square Church greatly. It is where God brought me, put me, planted me and where I grew up in the faith. It is where I first experienced the presence of God. The preaching is phenomenal and I’ve made great friends there. Many who are now leaders or serving overseas as full time missionaries.

It’s not the church’s fault, it’s not anyone’s fault. However, last night, memories began to flood my mind and emotions began to well up. Yes, I forgive this man, wherever he is. The irony of it all is that I didn’t even know his name. But his face will be forever etched in my memory.

Conceptually, I understood at twenty-seven that evil was using this man as a host. But it’s still hard to grasp something like this magnitude, especially since it happened in church by a supposed brother in Christ. I couldn’t understand it, still don’t and perhaps I never will.

However, since then, I no longer close my eyes when I pray in church. I do for second or two, but then I open them again. I only pray with abandon when I’m alone and in the confines of my home.

I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience in church?  If so, please share. I would love to know I’m not alone.

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Wrecked by Jeff Goins

By Ordinary Servant | Published July 13, 2012

I barely made it out of bed alive this morning. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. But seriously, I am dead tired and it’s all Jeff Goins fault.

It’s his fault because I couldn’t stop reading his new book last night. I literally had to peel myself away and get some sleep.

Thus, I rolled out of bed, as we say in New York City, mad tired.

I began my daily routine by turning on the water to take a shower. Guess what, there was no hot water… again.

Needless to say, this isn’t what I would call an ideal way to start your day. However, the cold shower definitely jolted me awake. Seriously, you should try it some time.

While taking my cold shower, I was thinking of Wrecked. My thoughts brought me back to a time where a group of us from Times Square Church went on a short missions trip to Guatemala.

I remember when we first arrived to the mission, it was hot. We all wanted and needed to take a shower.  But, there was one little problem, there were no bathrooms or showers.

Thankfully, it began to rain.  We knew this was our opportunity to take a shower.

Now keep in mind, I’m from New York City, ok? I’ve only camped out maybe a few times in my life and poorly at that. I’ve never taken a shower in the middle of nowhere before, much less in the rain.

But there I was in the mountains of Guatemala, in the rain, with a bunch of people I didn’t know and a major decision to make. Shower or no shower, is the question. I felt gross, so I decided on the shower. The next dilemma was to figure out how and where?

The shower situation definitely took me out of my comfort zone. I basically was forced to use my imagination and pray… a lot.

Thankfully, the Lord had mercy on my poor soul and answered quickly. There, hidden in view, was my salvation… a small cascade of water falling off a tin roof. When the water hit my skin, it was as cold as my shower this morning.

The only difference is, I actually enjoyed it.

This experience definitely wrecked me and so is reading this book.

Wrecked is stirring me in a major way. Jeff Goins is a prolific and amazing writer. His writing is like eating your favorite ice cream, you don’t want to stop.

But whatever you do, don’t buy the book yet.  You don’t want to miss out on this:  http://wreckedthebook.com/.

Jeff Goins is a part-time blogger, speaker and author. He works full-time for a nonprofit organization called Adventures in Missions, where he serves as the Communications Director. In his free time, he writes books and shares ideas worth spreading.

Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Jeff graduated from Illinois College with a double major in Spanish and Religion. There, he spent a semester in Spain, which opened his eyes to different cultures and stretched his worldview.
After a year of travel and long-distance communication, he moved to Tennessee to chase the woman who became his wife. In 2008, he married her.

Since 2006, Jeff has worked out of his home, overseeing marketing, communications, and innovation teams from afar. He is passionate about not only telling great stories, but living them, as well.

His blog, GoinsWriter.com, is one of the fastest-growing blogs on the web and is a well-respected resource for bloggers and writers. In 2011, it won the Top 10 Blogs for Writers award on WritetoDone.com. Each month, he receives over 80,000 visitors to his website.

Jeff’s work has been published online and offline in a variety of publications, including RELEVANT Magazine (which has a circulation of more than 150,000 readers), Copyblogger.com (voted by Ad Age as one of the top marketing blogs online), and ZenHabits.net (one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Websites for threes years in a row).

Jeff and his wife, Ashley, live just outside of Nashville, TN with their son and dog.

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