Lane Cooke (Winter 2025)

1. 1 Peter 4:11

Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Leading an Aussie Team

We went to Malawi! I had an amazing team of 12 team members and five leaders. The trip started with a 10-day training program where we learned the different skills we would need throughout the trip. It was also a time to get to know my team and grow in unity. It was really cool seeing how unified our team was from day one! 

After the training we started our long journey to Malawi, about 30+ hours of traveling, before arriving in this beautiful country! 

It was so cool getting to meet missionaries that our Teen Missions staff had been praying for these past years. My team was a very social and unified team; they all loved being there and had a heart to serve the Lord. Our project was to help build a dining hall for the Bible school students. It was fun getting to work alongside the nationals. We had a lot of opportunities to get involved with the culture. One way that we did this was by having a similar schedule to the students there so that we could go to chapel with them and work with them. We also shared a national meal with the students every Saturday and joined them for community nights (a night where everyone gets together and does something fun). Being so involved with the people there gave me a new perspective on how important it is to be willing to be part of, love and embrace the culture to create good relationships with the nationals. 

The team members loved being immersed in the culture and living there for the month.

We visited two Rescue Units—a place for kids to come and receive the care they need during the day time. They also spend time learning Bible stories and have times to worship and play together. We also visited a Matron Unit—a safe home for young girls to stay while they go to school. They also spent time learning Bible stories. Those ministries are really a huge blessing to the community, and it was a blessing to us to get to be a part of them for a moment. We also had the opportunity to go into a village and do door-to-door evangelism. I loved having the opportunity to sit outside of people’s houses under trees and teach them stories from the Bible and encourage them in their faith. It was really cool seeing the team members get out of their comfort zone and really love on these people and teach them Scripture and pray for them.

One of my favorite things from this summer was getting to see some of my team members find and embrace the gifts that God has given them. Overall this summer was full of blessings and answered prayers.

Testimony from Malawi Team

During my time in Malawi God was really teaching me a lot. One of the main reasons that I love leading these teams is because of the blessing it is to pour into teenagers’ lives and encourage them in their faith at the same time that they are learning about missions and what it means to serve God.

This year our leadership decided that we wanted to see a growth in our team members to have a burden for missions, to grow personally in their own faith, to be unified and to grow in the gifts that God has given them. We prayed as a leadership that God would move in these ways and He did!

Our team was very unified from day one and continued to be unified the whole time. We saw so much growth in many areas. Some of our team members didn’t have a personal relationship with God before they came, but during the trip they really enjoyed doing devos and learning through our Bible studies and worshiping God through music. They left the team loving God and wanting to continue their relationship with Him. Some others had a personal relationship with God and during the team they felt a burden for missions and decided that when they went back home they were going to go to Bible college and pursue missionary work. 

The one that we saw answered the most was that they would grow in the gifts that God had given them. This was especially evident in one boy’s life. He was very quiet in large group situations, but was great at one-on-one conversations. Halfway through the team we asked him if he would be willing to share God’s Word at church that Sunday and he said yes. He wrote his own sermon and on Sunday, when it was time to share it, he went up confidently and the Holy Spirit spoke through him. It was such a powerful message, and he was so confident in the things he was saying. It was so cool seeing how God used him to touch people’s hearts that day. The rest of the time on the team he was not afraid to share things, and he really embraced the gift that God has given him. 

God is amazing in how He works!

Life in Australia

It’s crazy to think that I am halfway through my time here. God has blessed me in many ways these past months that I have been here.

I am back at work after leading the team. This year is looking a little different than last year as far as work goes. Instead of working on stuff in the office all day, I will be doing part time in the office, part time outside on maintenance and part time traveling to do promotions and speak at churches, youth groups and missions conferences on behalf of Teen Missions. We are also looking into an opportunity to go into schools with a ministry called RI (religious instruction) and help in any way we can. I am excited to see what I will learn this year with the new opportunities I have been given to serve in. 

Apart from work I have some extra activities I have been doing with my church. Abigail and I are involved with a young adults group Bible study and the worship band at our church. This year I am going to volunteer at the church cafe that they use to bring the community together. It has been really nice having a strong connection with our church and feeling like we truly have our community within the church. 

What God has been Teaching Me 

Recently, especially since my Malawi team, God has been teaching me how important it is to keep my confidence in Him. I think a lot of the time I get nervous when I am asked to do things I am not fully comfortable with or that I don’t feel confident in. But that is when keeping your confidence in God is important. We don’t do things through our own strength or talents; we do them through the strength that God gives us and the talents He has given us. 

Alongside that, another thing that I have been thinking a lot about is how important it is that worship (in a music context) comes from your heart and not from how good the worship sounds. It is nice to have worship that sounds good, but in the end what truly matters is that you have a heart of worship in what you are proclaiming through the songs. This is something that I saw a lot in Malawi. They didn’t really care at all what they sounded like as long as they got to worship God together with their voices, and in the end all together they sounded beautiful because it was coming out of a heart of worship to God.

Prayer Points

That God would continue to work in my life/show me the areas I can improve in.

That I would continue to make the most out of every opportunity I am given.

Provision and health for my family.

Continued growth in the ministry of Teen Missions Australia.

Provision and growth for the staff, Abigail and me while we serve in Australia.

God Bless You,

Lane Cooke