Meet Our Pastor

Rev. Yvonne Gilmore-Essig is the Pastor of New Song Community Church. She is an ordained minister with standing in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ. She grew up in Washington, DC and was a member of Michigan Park Christian Church under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Delores Carpenter.

 

While completing her degree in International Relations at The American University, she further discerned her call to ministry. From there, she went to The University of Chicago where she completed her Masters of Divinity degree.

 

While living in Chicago, she served at Park Manor Christian Church as an Associate Minister active in youth ministry, couples ministry and worship leadership where the Rev. James Demus is the senior pastor. She later served as an Associate Pastor at Shepherd Park Christian Church, an urban congregation in Northwest Washington, DC under the leadership of Pastor Marcus Leathers where her ministry focused on outreach and faith development. This is followed by her service to First Christian Church of Baltimore as the Interim Pastor, a suburban congregation in the Roland Park community of Baltimore, MD.

 

Yvonne has also served as a chaplain at Trinity Advocate Hospital in Chicago, IL; Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC; Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in West Baltimore; and at the Hospice of Baltimore in Towson, Maryland.

 

As a student of the prophetic tradition, Yvonne is a spoken word artist and member of The Cornel West Theory, included on their debut release 'Second Rome' on Sockets Records. Her voice is also included in the following publications: “Praise for the Mercy of God,” Winged Words: Prayers for Common Worship & Common Life and “Politics, Media Priests & Pulpits: Losing Grasp of What’s Real," WTF Split Ticket: Independent Faith in a Time of Partisan Politics. Recently, she wrote and performed a spoken word piece entitled “Tree,” commissioned by the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ for their 2009 General Assembly in Indianapolis, Indiana and was featured in an artistic collaboration entitled 'District Calling: Freedom' in December of 2009 funded by the D.C. Commission of the Arts & Humanities. Yvonne is a servant to all and a friend of all movements that foster spiritual maturity and community building. She is the ever in awe and grateful mother of two girls ages 11 and 6.