As a child, Sara (Goodson) Fulp (Elementary Education ’17) would often sit her stuffed animals in rows and begin teaching them. While she enjoyed mimicking her parents’ shared profession, she never thought she’d lead a classroom herself.
But in high school, Fulp surrendered to God’s calling for her to teach. Her brother already attended Pensacola Christian College, but she didn’t want that to influence her choice. After considering several Christian colleges, she sought counsel from a family friend and pastor. When she shared with him the colleges she was considering, the pastor replied, “Every college that you mentioned to me is going to teach you great Bible doctrine, but PCC is where I go to look for good teachers.”
“That sealed the deal for me,” said Fulp.
Sara’s time on campus was dotted with special moments, including God calling her into full-time ministry and meeting her husband, David Fulp (Pastoral Ministries ’16). “We now serve the Lord in ministry, and we love what we do in children’s ministry,” she said. “I teach Bible stories to the children sometimes and am so thankful for classes like Teaching Bible (EE 330) when I teach the lessons. My time serving in Campus Church Sunday school and neighborhood bible clubs helped prepare me for ministry.”
While attending the College, Fulp received the training she needed to lead in the classroom. “I took Educational Psychology (ED 322) with Dr. Bowman, and his passion for it was so inspiring. He held us all to such a high standard in Teaching Arithmetic (EE 301), and it made me want to hold myself to that standard as I taught,” she said. Fulp also received support from faculty during difficult times in her life. “Dr. Williams actually sent me a card when I lost a family member. It was so encouraging to know that my teacher cared about me not only in class but also outside of the classroom.”
Upon graduating in 2017, Sara Fulp taught second grade classes for two years at Milford Christin Academy (OH), where she was responsible for preparing and completing lessons, planning class field trips, communicating with parents, maintaining classroom behavior, and being an example of Christlikeness to her students. “When I graduated college, I was so excited to teach!” she said.
Marrying David in 2019, Fulp now assists her husband with youth ministry at Kerwin Baptist Church in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he’s a children’s pastor. To fully support his ministry there, they had both agreed that she should step away from teaching full-time. “Our church is very busy. I wanted to be able to help my husband and be as involved as possible,” she said. “Teaching is a very involved job and doing both was not going to be the best for us. It was hard for me to let go of my desire to teach, but thankfully the Lord opened the door for VIPKid.”
Through VIPKid, Fulp teaches English and phonics as a second language to online students. “When I taught school, a challenge might be a student that was not understanding, so I would have to determine what best way a student learned and adapt to it,” she explained. “The same could be said as I teach with VIPKid. Students learn in different ways, and that applies to all nationalities and ages. As I teach English online, I find my background in the Abeka phonics curriculum extremely helpful! Not all teachers have that background going into the TESOL field, and I feel that PCC helped me be ready to teach that very well.”
By living as an example, Fulp hopes to have an impact on her online students. “VIPKid is a program that works primarily with Chinese children,” she said. “I am not allowed to really speak about religion in the lessons, but I try my best to display a Christlike countenance and spirit as I teach.”
While her journey has been unexpected, Sara Fulp anticipates the ways in which God will use her next. “God’s calling for your life doesn’t have to be put in a box of only one profession,” she said. “It can be used in countless ways.”
Read more about how God is directing and working through PCC faculty and alumni.