Called To Work Workplace Conference

The first CALLED TO WORK Conference was held on November 16, 1996 at Rutgers Community Christian Church in Somerset, New Jersey.   The Conference was founded by Elaine Kung, a long-time manager at AT&T and Jason Browning, a long-time manager at Lucent Technologies.  Both were active in their respective corporation's Christian cultural diversity groups, and they shared a desire to host a Christian-oriented professional  development conference for their co-workers and the general public.  The inspiration for the name, "Called To Work," came from Karen Johnson Moy, a management consultant and former White House staff member who delivered the themed keynote address by the same title, "Called To Work."  Moy had observed that many Christians in the workplace felt inferior because they weren't in so-called "full-time" Christian ministry" like pastors, teachers, and missionaries.  Moy was persuaded that, in reality, all Christians have a divine calling and that many are "called to work" in business, non-profits, institutions, and government.