by Anneliese Rider

Pam MacRae—professor, program head, and director of Moody Bible Institute’s Called conference—didn’t go to college to study education and never had any idea of teaching on a college level or launching majors. But after years of serving women in conferences and churches, she realized that women who were serving in ministry areas were hungry to learn and grow but needed more ministry training—and she could help offer it.

Now, after 20 years at Moody, she continues to be passionate about helping prepare and equip women for ministry and is always coming up with intentional ways to do so, whether it’s through a class, a major, or even the Called conference.

‘I understood what women were asking for’

Pam, a constant companion of her dad on his pastoral visits, grew up loving the church. “I just saw how wonderful it was to influence people and share Jesus and to love and care for people,” Pam says, recounting childhood visits they made together in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In her high school years, Pam’s Bible teacher at her private Christian boarding school taught her how to dig deep into the Bible, “and to delve into Isaiah as a high school senior just made me love the Scriptures.”

With a passion for serving people and studying God’s Word, after graduating high school, Pam attended Moody to study Bible and theology.

While a student, Pam often visited her sister, who worked in the student recruitment office—and there she met her sister’s coworker Bob, a Moody graduate. They dated, and in 1979 after Pam graduated, they were married. After Bob completed his seminary work, he took a role as a youth pastor at a church in Boca Raton, Florida.

“I enjoyed doing ministry with him as a youth pastor, but I always felt very drawn to ministry to women,” Pam says.

That pull continued, and even as she raised their two daughters, Pam began to take opportunities to serve in Bible studies and speak to women in different settings.

When Bob left the pastorate and became a professor at Moody Bible Institute in 1995, Pam began pursuing her master’s degree in Ministry Leadership at Moody. Before long, she also started working in Moody’s conference ministries department, helping run women’s conferences all over the country. She loved it.

Reach to teach

But when the conference ministry department was eliminated, Pam wasn’t sure what was next—until John Koessler, then the chair of the Pastoral Studies department, asked her what it would look like to start an undergraduate Ministry to Women program at Moody.

“I just rattled off five classes without even thinking about it,” Pam says. “From all the conversations I’d had with women, through the conferences and networking and events, I could understand what women were asking for.”

Before long, John asked Pam to teach a class—but she said no and suggested he find other teachers.

“It was nothing I ever envisioned or thought of,” Pam says, “or even knew to want to do.”

But as time passed, with John’s gentle encouragement and consistent guidance, Pam began teaching—and eventually they began the Ministry to Women major. Pam became the program head, also earning her Doctor of Ministry from Bethel Seminary in 2013. In 2014, she also launched the Ministry to Victims of Sexual Exploitation program.

A unique conference for women in ministry leadership

In 2016, Pam was having a conversation with two coworkers who also served in ministry to women.

“We were talking about the Ministry to Women curriculum and how what was taught in the major would be so useful for women who are serving in ministry yet have been able to have any formal training for ministry,” Pam says.

That conversation started the ball rolling, and soon they were putting together the first one-day Called conference for the spring of 2017.

Their goal was twofold: to provide practical academic training for the attendees and give the Ministry to Women majors hands-on experience running a conference.

At Called, professors and practitioners lead workshops between the main sessions. Attendees can choose three workshops from the 18 offered about practical topics. In 2025, topics include church hurt, multi-generational ministry, sensitivity to race, the theology of pain and suffering, flourishing after ministry discouragement, and many more.

Each attendee is given access to the audio recordings of all 18 workshops so that they can have access to ongoing training throughout the year, and also use them to train and equip their team leaders. The conference is also livestreamed.

Support system

Attendees can also choose to join a cohort, so women in ministry can continue to encourage each other for the next 12 months after the conference.

“We’ve had women who have taken advantage of continuing to have conversations about ministry throughout the year,” Pam says, talking about the value of that support system. “It’s a beautiful and wonderful experience to see women enjoying talking to somebody who does something like they do.”

After a few years of holding a one-day conference, Pam and the Called planning team added an extra option.

“Now we have an additional preconference full training day that’s more in depth,” Pam says, noting that the preconference day is also worth a Continuing Education Unit credit for those women who are interested to earn that. At the preconference day for the Called 2025 conference, Juli Slattery—president of Authentic Intimacy and a member of Moody’s board of trustees—will lead a training on how to help women in ministry handle today’s sexual issues.

Called 2025: Freely Give

The theme for Called 2025 is Freely Give, pulled from Matthew 10:8, where Jesus says, “Freely you have received; freely give.”

“What I really want is for women to come and be equipped and strengthened in the ways in which they serve and the ways they minister,” Pam says, adding that Called isn’t just for women who are leading in a ministry setting. “It’s also for women who have a sense that God is calling them to something next, and they want to be equipped for what they are feeling that is ahead for them.”