[Blog] Living the Call: Perkins Celebrates Vocations in All Their Forms

While National Vocation Awareness Week began as a Catholic initiative to encourage discernment of religious vocations, its central theme—listening for and living out God’s call—resonates across Christian traditions.

At Perkins School of Theology, we celebrate vocation in its fullest sense: the many ways people embody God’s call through ministry, service, creativity, scholarship, and leadership. During this week, we highlight our students and alumni whose callings extend beyond traditional pastoral settings, reflecting the diverse ways Perkins graduates serve both Church and world.

"I discerned my call to ministry after first serving as an educator, teaching A/V production and graphic design at the high school level. God used that season to help shape my voice, my love for formation and education, and my passion for communicating hope — all of which now guide my ministry in the Church.

Today, I serve in a non-traditional pastoral context, leading communications and digital ministry for the Rio Texas Conference and helping churches share the gospel creatively, communicate with clarity, and reach new people in digital spaces. My path has shown me that ministry can begin in unexpected places, and that God often prepares us long before we recognize the call."

- Amanda Banda | M.Div. '27

"I have worked in numerous healthcare environments throughout my career; acute care, hospice, rehab and long term care.   Have paid close attention to the end-of-life-care facets of this care trajectory.  While my faculty and I teach, mentor and train our students on the many facets of clinical, operational and regulatory care, my area of specialty is end-of-life care dynamics - where we make a difference in the lives of our patients and family members.  Earning my M.Div. and D.Min. from Perkins helped me to refine my ministry skillsets while combining them with my healthcare operational and clinical knowledge and skillsets.  The Intersection of Healthcare Administration, Thanatology and Ministry is important."

- Regina Franklin | M.Div. '15, D.Min. '24

"I currently serve as the Executive Director & Lead Pastor at Union Coffee in Dallas, Texas — a nonprofit coffee shop and faith community that exists to cultivate the divine spark in our neighbors for the good of the world. Union blends caffeine and calling: we serve excellent coffee while creating space for people to connect across difference, explore spirituality, and engage in justice and generosity together.

Our work lives at the intersection of hospitality and ministry — part neighborhood café, part spiritual experiment — grounded in the belief that sacred conversations can start anywhere, even over a latte."

- Katie Newsome | M.Div. '16

"I’m Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Undergraduate Director in the Department of Religious Studies at the Unviersity fonAlabama. I’m the author of Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures (Equinox 2020), former Editor for the Bulletin for the Study of Religion, and founding curator of Sowing the See: Fruitful Conversation in Religion, Culture, and Teaching (sowingthe seed.org)."

- Richard Newton | M.Div. '09