Conversations with Katie Newsome

I was born and raised Albany, Georgia, and made my way to Texas to go to college at Southern Methodist University. I began my time at SMU studying with the hope of going to med school and becoming a doctor. The summer after my freshman year, I worked as a summer intern at a local non-profit called Project Transformation. Project Transformation gave me an invaluable experience that completely upended the way I knew the world. I learned diversity is more than a policy; it is a kingdom value. People at PT loved me fiercely and grew my passion for justice and social holiness. It was at Project Transformation when I first began to understand deep hurts and injustice around poverty, racism, and immigration–not just as political issues, but as walking, breathing people I knew and loved. It was that summer that I heard my calling into ordained ministry. PT challenged me to look for God in all people, and my ministry now is rooted in this very assumption. I switched my majors to Religious Studies and Psychology and graduated from SMU in 2012. 

Then in 2012, I began my seminary education at Perkins School of Theology at SMU. My first year in seminary, I had quite a difficult internship experience that caused me to question if I was being called into a career in ministry. Yet during that time, I discovered a new church start and coffee shop called Union. I got really connected into the Union community, and it restored hope in me for the future of the church. In 2014, I worked as a hospital chaplain at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, and in 2015 and 2016, I worked as a pastoral intern at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church. I graduated with my Master of Divinity in 2016 and was then commissioned as a provisional elder in The United Methodist Church. I served as an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church of Coppell for 2 years, and then I was ordained as an elder in full connection in the UMC in 2018. I was then appointed to serve at First United Methodist Church of Rockwall for 3 years, and then in 2021, I was appointed to Union Coffee, which funny enough, also now sits on Oak Lawn UMC’s campus. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have certainly been obstacles along the way. While The United Methodist Church has been ordaining women for 66 years, there is still much work left to be done in shattering the stained-glass ceiling. I felt some of these struggles throughout the candidacy process of becoming an ordained clergyperson. 

As a clergywoman in The United Methodist Church, it’s also been difficult to watch our denomination continue to wrestle with our official statement on human sexuality. I am personally in favor of full inclusion of all our LGBTQIA+ siblings in all aspects of the life of the church, and yet, our denomination continues to harm and fail so many. It’s been truly painful to witness, and there are days that I am not sure that I want to be a part of a body doing so much harm. 

And yet, these people raised me. 

I first connected with The United Methodist Church, because they had a divorce support group for my mom in the 90s. On Wednesday nights, we would go to the church for Wednesday night supper, and after eating, Mom would go to her support group, while my brother and I went to childcare. A few years later, this same church had a program for 5th graders, where they would pick us up from school, bring us to church, we would have a snack, do homework, and get to play games. I did this all throughout 5th grade. The following year I went through confirmation at the church, and then the next year I got involved in youth choir and youth group. When I graduated from high school, I went to Southern Methodist University. I didn’t pick it because it had Methodist in the name, but when I got there and was looking to make friends, I remembered learning about some guy named Wesley, so I thought I would be well off connecting with Methodists at the Wesley foundation. My first summer after my first year at college, I served at a non-profit called Project Transformation, that was founded by Methodists, supported by local Methodist churches, and housed day camps and after-school programs at United Methodist churches in underserved communities. 

I went to seminary at Perkins School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary, I worked as a chaplain at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, and every official job I have ever had has been in or associated with The United Methodist church. 

The UMC raised me, supported my mom during her divorce, educated me, loved me, literally fed me and picked me up from school, grew within me a deep passion for social justice, and taught me how to love all persons fiercely, with that same fierce, tenacious love God so freely gives to us. It’s because of this that I still stay in this denomination and work for us to return to this fierce love of all, advocating for full inclusion of our LGBTQIA+ siblings in all areas of the church and racial equity within all our practices. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the Executive Director and Lead Pastor at Union Coffee, a business, a non-profit, and a church, all wrapped up into a generous coffee shop that exists for the spiritual and physical well-being of our neighborhood, while also helping the community support its own causes. Income generation, including everything from selling coffee to engaging neighbors in co-funding ministries, powers our capacity to meet the needs of our neighborhood. 

Union is a true community center, often being whatever, you need, whenever you need it. Our staff engages with a diverse customer base: UT Southwestern students looking for a local coffee shop to study, Dallas Mavericks players looking for a pick me up close to work, local coffee connoisseurs, queer people of faith looking for an open and affirming place, Oak Lawn residents looking for sober space on the strip, social justice advocates looking to connect for a common cause, and many more. 

Our leadership prides itself on taking risk and not being afraid to fail. If a community member has an idea of what Union can do to help its community, Union will try it at least once, as Union is built upon the idea that we exist for the well-being of our neighborhood. 

Additionally, precious few young adults are developed as leaders and given civic leadership opportunities, particularly when it comes to young adults of color, women, and LGBTQIA+ persons. Union is an innovative missional congregation and coffee shop that puts over 100 young adults into leadership roles every year, entrusting them with real responsibility and the opportunity to craft everything that Union does, from worship gatherings to community events and community activism. Young adults are given the opportunity to design and create everything we do at Union, whether that’s as a board member or barista. 

Our mission is to cultivate the divine spark in our neighbors for the good of Dallas and the world it inspires. As a result, we serve as not only a hub for church innovation but also for church and secular leadership development. We have as many candidates for ordained ministry (11) as we have connected into the Dallas Mayor’s Star Council. We have identified 95 leaders in 2021 that take the leadership skills they’ve developed at Union and use them beyond our walls. 

When we elect new members to the board each year, we use a nominations team to look for Union community members that could bring valuable perspective to our leadership team, Union supporters interested in getting more involved, and people who don’t know Union yet, but definitely should. 

Financially, we operate off coffee sales, grants, and fundraising. We are continuing to do the hard work to grow our shop’s profitability and be fiscally responsible in our spending. In 2021, we saw our highest-grossing sales month in Union’s history, and then broke that record 3 more times that year. Even still, one of our core values is generosity, and we attempt to give back to both our community and other organizations doing good work in the city of Dallas. We have a “Shot of Generosity” program each month that chooses another nonprofit doing good work in the city of Dallas, promotes their work, and picks a Saturday (one of our highest sales days) to celebrate them by having 15% of all sales that day go to that organization. 

At Union, we strive to be ethical and honorable, and we are open to any and all feedback that holds us accountable to our mission: cultivating the divine spark for the good of Dallas and the world it inspires. 

Union is wholly unique in what we do and how we approach community. There is no other place like Union in the city of Dallas, existing solely for the well-being of our neighborhood. It is the neighborhood that determines our values and our mission. It is the neighborhood that determines our programming. It is the neighborhood that names what it needs and invites Union to respond. 

Union is truly just that—a union. A union of so many different things for so many different people—never asking anything of anyone when they come through our door. And while most other organizations shy away from being all things to all people, perhaps for fear of being spread too thin, Union knows that that is our sweet spot. 

If you need a space to study, we’re a coffee shop 

If you need a place to cultivate a leadership skill, we have tons of real leadership opportunities. 

If you’re a college student needing a part-time job, Union needs baristas. 

If you need a safe space to explore faith again, Union has worshipping communities. 

If you’re looking for a place to host your fundraiser, Union has a lawn and a stage. 

If you need a conference room for your company to use, Union will bring the coffee, too. 

If you are looking for a place to tell your story or share your song, Union has regular storytelling and open mic nights. 

We have worked with a whole host of organizations in Dallas: Theatre Three, Junior Players, Friends of the Dallas Public Library, Alcoholics Anonymous, Val’s Cheesecakes, Iris Memory Care—Family Support Group, Shalem Hospice, Dallas Hope Charities, Vampire Court of Dallas, Project Transformation, Readers 2 Leaders, Autocare Haven, The Family Place, Abide Women’s Health Services, The Resource Center, PRISM Health, and several more. 

Union is constantly working to be the community its neighborhood needs, whatever that might mean.