Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU, SBC) has named four young women to the 2026 National Acteens Panel.
They include Alexis Andrade of Freeman of Heights Baptist Church in Garland, Texas; Hannah Cooke of Harp’s Crossing Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia; Abigail Howard of Casey First Baptist Church in Casey, Illinois; and Jamila Toya of Jemez Valley Baptist Church in Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico.
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‘Now generation’
“Being named a National Acteens Panelist means these young women are the cream of the crop,” said Heather Keller, national WMU ministry consultant for Girls in Action, Children in Action and Acteens. “Their missions resumes reflect all areas of missions discipleship: learning about missions, praying for missions, supporting missions, doing missions and telling others about Jesus. These young women are not the ‘next’ generation, they are the ‘now’ generation of missions. I am excited to work with them and learn from them this year and know we will all be blessed by hearing about their passion for missions.”
Alexis Andrade
As a member of Acteens for more than six years, Andrade has had opportunities to serve her community through outreach events, packing backpacks for underserved kids, visiting a local nursing home, and serving food to those in need, among other opportunities. Each summer for the past several years, she also has participated in the national WMU Missions Celebration in various cities prior to the SBC Annual Meeting and served as an Acteens leader at GA camp.
“I really enjoy working with the young girls in GA,” Andrade shared. “It gives me the opportunity to be a leader and make a difference in their lives. Acteens has helped me grow deeper in my connection with Christ and learn how important it is to be able to share the gospel and have it be a part of my everyday life.”
Andrade also credits her Acteens involvement for helping her realize the importance of praying for missionaries around the world as they seek to share Jesus with so many who don’t know Him.
Hannah Cooke
Serving both in the church and beyond, Cooke is involved in many ministries including Acteens, VBS and teaching 4-year-olds in Sunday School for the past five years. She has also traveled to Alabama twice to serve on missions trips.
Through Acteens, Cooke said she learned the significance of prayer, ways to better pray for missionaries and special aspects of their ministries to pray over, and the importance of being obedience to God’s leading.
“Hannah leads by example,” said Linda Bidez, her Acteens leader. “During Acteens she has been faithful in offering to lead in prayer for our Southern Baptist missionaries. She makes Acteens a priority and displays a sweet Christian demeanor.”
Cooke said Acteens “also reinforced my knowledge of the need for evangelism and its impact. While learning about the people missionaries minister to, I realized the magnitude of lostness in some areas.”
The stories of these missionaries has stirred Cooke to seek opportunities in her own context for gospel conversations such as giving notes with Bible verses to people in her community.
Abigail Howard
For seven years, Howard has participated in missions opportunities through Acteens across the United States. Howard said Acteens has enabled her to live a missional life and has provided opportunities to serve in her church as well as on mission trips where she learned to share her faith.
One such experience included helping a church plant in Ohio.
Howard explained the church was meeting in the planter’s home so her team prayer walked the surrounding neighborhood that was primarily Turkish.
“God has commanded us to take the gospel to all nations, but that does not always mean we have to go to another country to share Jesus,” Howard said. “He is bringing the nations to us and placing them in our path here and how so we can share with them. Acteens has shown me how, as believers, we need to look at the world through Jesus’ eyes. This way of viewing the world has led me most often to see people with compassion.”
Howard also credits Acteens with helping her grow in her walk with Christ by teaching her how to worship and challenging her to dig deeper and study God’s Word.
Jamila Toya
Toya was introduced to her pastor and his wife when her older siblings took to her a Wednesday night Bible study for kids. As their relationship grew, so did her relationship with the Lord. “This has affected my life by taking away thoughts of suicide, anxiety and depression,” Toya shared. “Being deeply rooted in my faith helps those thoughts go away.”
Her involvement in Acteens has provided many opportunities to serve, including working with children at missions camp.
“Jamila loves teaching younger kids about missions,” said Melissa Lamb, executive director of New Mexico WMU. “She is mature, focused and willing to set aside worldly things that distract so many other teens. The Lord has done a great work in her life and the joy that exudes from her is evident.
“Everyone can say they believe in God, but not everyone can say they live for God,” Toya said. “This makes me want to show what it is like when you have God in your life . . . by showing them the love of God, it can change the world.”
About Acteens
Acteens is the WMU-sponsored missions group for girls in grades 7–12. For decades, Acteens has provided generations with the opportunity to grow in their faith with others who share the same goal: to be actively involved in missions discipleship. This includes learning about, praying for, supporting and doing missions and telling others about Jesus. For more information about Acteens, visit wmu.com/students.
The panelists will serve through 2026 and each will receive a grant from the Jessica Powell Loftis Endowment through the WMU Foundation. They will help lead in the WMU Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, in June, prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. In addition, they may have speaking opportunities in their respective states.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Julie Walters and originally released by Woman’s Missionary Union.
