An ad hoc group of leaders, chaired by Jerry Black (1938-2019) and including James Rawlings Sydnor (1911-99), Richard Peek (1927-2005), Herbert Archer (1922-2005), William Whitehead (1938-2000), Mabel Boyter (1905-2000), and Adele Dieckmann McKee (b. 1928) met four times during the 1969 conference to begin planning the future of a not-yet-named organization. From it's beginnings, the organization envisioned itself as serving and welcoming not only members of the "southern" Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in the United States, PCUS), but also those of the "northern" (United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, UPCUSA) Presbyterian Church.

 

In response to letters of concern from participants in the 1969 conference Dr. William Kadel (1914-90), Executive Secretary of the PCUS Board of Christian Education responded on August 12, 1969, "I want to make it very clear that elimination of the office [Board of Christian Education] does not mean that we will now ignore our responsibility to support and service the renewal of worship among Presbyterians. In looking for ways and means to do this, we are counting on the advice and help of the Fellowship of Presbyterian Musicians and expect to cooperate with the Board of Christian Education of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America."

 

An organizational meeting of the new association to be called "Presbyterian Association of Musicians" was held July 26, 1970 in Anderson Auditorium on the grounds of the Montreat Conference Center, a PCUS conference center in Montreat, North Carolina. At that meeting, a constitution was adopted and officers were elected.  Those officers were:

 

President                                Adele Dieckmann McKee (b. 1928)

Vice President                       David McCormick (1928-2019)

Secretary                                Richard D. Wetzel (b. 1935)

Treasurer                               Jerry Black (1938-2019)

Executive Committee          Austin Lovelace (1919-2010)

                                                Richard Peek (1927-2005)

                                                James Rawlings Sydnor (1911-99)

                                                William Whitehead (1938-2000)

                                                Henry Bridges, Jr. (1927-2018)

                                                Josephine Waddell (1908-91)

​

Since 1970, PAM has continued to present weeklong conferences on worship and music at the Montreat Conference Center. In 1979, in response to more demand than the Montreat facilities could accommodate, a second week of the Montreat conference was initiated. In addition, the organization organized and presented weeklong conferences in the Montreat model at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania from 1988 - 2006, and in Albuquerque, San Francisco, and other locations in the western United States from 1978 - 2008. From 2009 – 2018, PAM partnered with Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Conference Center in Hunt, Texas to present worship and music conferences in that location. In addition, PAM has held biennial four-day Professionals Gatherings in cities where PC(USA) seminaries are also located, including Louisville, Kentucky, Austin, Texas, Princeton, New Jersey, and Charlotte, North Carolina.     

 

For many of its early years, the office of PAM was located at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Emily Smith, appointed Executive Secretary of PAM in 1979 reports that most of PAM's records and files were housed in the trunk of her car during her tenure in that position. In 1990, PAM opened an office in the recently opened Presbyterian Center at 100 Witherspoon Street in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1993, all PAM operations were consolidated in the Louisville office, where they continue to reside. In 2000, Alan Barthel (b. 1945) was hired as the organization's first Executive Director. Barthel remained in that position until his retirement in 2011. In 2012, William McConnell (b. 1959), formerly Associate Professor of Music and Associate Dean for Adult and Extended Programs at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, North Carolina succeeded Alan Barthel and served as Executive Director through November 2016. In 2017, Kelly Abraham (b. 1972) was hired as the organization’s first female Executive Director.

 

In addition to sponsoring conferences on worship and music, PAM offers an online job referral service, publishes, in cooperation with the PC(USA) Office of Theology & Worship, the print journal Call to Worship, publishes a quarterly online newsletter, publishes resources guides for church musicians, including: guidelines for employment of church musicians, guidelines for professional conduct in adversity, and resource guides for weddings, funerals, and other specific topics, provides seed money grants to worship and music events organized by its members, funds scholarships for approximately 35 individuals with financial need to participate in PAM conferences, sponsors a PAM chapter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collaborates with Morningstar Music Publishers in the publication of a PAM anthem series, and offers members certification as Certified Church Musician (CCM).

 

PAM has provided consultation and participation in the 1990 and 2013 Presbyterian hymnals as well as the widely influential liturgical study published by the PC(USA), Invitation to Christ. Former PAM Presidents Robert Stigall (1934-2018) and Betty Peek (1929-2013) served on the 1990 committee. James Sydnor (1911-99) served as a consultant to the committee. For the 2013 collection (Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal), PAM was invited to the hymnal committee (Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song) as an ex officio member without vote. From 2008 until his retirement in 2011, Alan Barthel represented the organization on the committee. From 2012 through publication, William McConnell represented the organization. Musical and liturgical materials chosen for inclusion in Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal provided musical and liturgical source material for all of the organization's conferences from 2010 – 2013. PAM leadership and members of the organization were active participants in hymn festivals, educational presentations for presbyteries and congregations, and denomination-wide events prior to publication.

 

PAM partnered with Presbyterian Publishing Corporation and the PC(USA) Office of Theology and Worship in the revision of the 1993 Book of Common Worship, published in 2018.

 

Individual membership in the organization as of 2025 stands at approximately 1,500 members from throughout the United States, as well as members in Canada and Puerto Rico.

 

In 2022, PAM Board voted to become a Matthew 25 organization. PAM is committed to embrace building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism, eradicating systemic poverty, and living into diverse, equitable, and inclusive systems for all God’s children.

 

 Quoted in PAM Newsletter March 1981.