To call that a heresy is stretching it a bit since we do not have the complete picture of the Trinity or the Holy Spirit. It would be more heresy to call Jesus "She" than it is for the holy spirit, since technically speaking, the holy spirit is probably most likely genderless. At least we do know Jesus was male.
However, there are several reasons Baxter does this. First of all, many languages, even today, have a gender attached to certain words. It does not mean sexually, but for reasons I'm not sure of since I am not a linguistic expert.For example, when men talk about cars, they refer to the car as "she", even though it is neither male nor female. I basically know two languages: English and Southern.
But jokes aside, in Hebrew, the word Spirit (ruach) is feminine. That is not say it is a literal female, just feminine in where you can say "she". In Greek, it is masculine, which again, does not make it "male" in the same way Jesus is male. The question for some is, "is the holy spirit a person or a power that it used". Plenty of bible study can produce evidence that the holy spirit is a person, one of three of the Trinity. But does the holy spirit have a gender?
The other reason Baxter Kruger says "she" is not that he really cares one way or the other, but in respect to the book "The Shack" where the spirit is represented as an Asian female. This book is not saying that the Holy Spirit is Asian or female any more than the book is saying the the Father (Papa) is a stereotypical southern black woman who loves to cook in the kitchen and can act as "Papa" as well as "Mama" when it comes to her kids (or her employers kids). This is not what the book is saying. What the book IS saying however,is that this is how God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit or "Sarayu") is presenting themselves to Mackenzie where he is at in his life.
If you were in the same position (and really, who isn't?), and had a chance to see and talk to God in your "shack", how would God show Himself to you? This book hit a nerve for Baxter Kruger (who was introduced to Paul Young by our pastor in Virginia), and he says he uses "She" in respect to The Shack. Whether Baxter believes the holy spirit is a she or he, really is irrelevant. What he does very much believe and speak about with passion, is that the holy spirit is very much alive, set up shop permanently here on earth and is very active in the lives of more people than we give credit to. To continue to say "He" just to pacify a few people who insist on "he" is to say he needs to adjust everything he says to make them feel more comfortable. Baxter is not about to "comfort" anyone with soft words of complacency, even though he has that laid back Southern Comfort style about him. He does this to break and challenge our old thinking, our "around the supper table" conversation. To make us think and reconsider who and what God is and who and what we are in the life and dance of the Trinity.
But then, some don't believe in dancing. Too bad.

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