by Paisley Gibson
Editor’s note: Paisley has been on staff with Be The Word Ministry for two years. She has recently received and accepted an incredible opportunity to present at the World Conference on Transformative Education (WCTE) July 2-4, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Here she shares answers to questions concerning her journey in education, her upcoming trip to South Africa, and how her faith plays a role in pursuing her God given purpose.
Your journey in education has led to this incredible opportunity to speak in South Africa. Can you share how your faith has shaped your path and guided you to this moment?
I believe in God ordained purpose. Understanding what that means personally for my life has greatly influenced and shaped my career path in education. Teaching is an incredibly tough and underpaid profession. There were many times (daily) and a million reasons why I wanted to quit teaching prematurely to pursue a different career path. But an inner fire, fueled by a natural ability and passion to teach kids somehow kept me coming back to the schoolhouse day after day for 15 years.
It took faith to stay as long as I did. Deep within I felt there was a greater reason why I couldn’t bring myself to quit each of the many times I threatened or promised myself I would. Eventually, I resigned from teaching to pursue a new career path. But not for the reasons I would have initially thought (convenience, peace of mind, better work conditions, higher salary, etc.). But actually, teaching as a platform could no longer sustain the emerging vision. I realized that those years of teaching were the necessary experience to get to the next step – towards my purpose to help transform education. It took faith to trust that I wasn’t insane and recognize when the time came to move forward.
Were there moments when doubt, obstacles, or opposition made you question your calling? How did you navigate those challenges while holding onto your purpose?
Absolutely. As a visionary type of thinker, I feel vulnerable to doubt often. Because I tend to see more of the big picture, the feeling of overwhelm sometimes leads to doubt. Obstacles and opposition show up all the time. I think doubt can be the most sabotaging. To combat doubt, I attempt to be intentional about my self-talk.
I have learned how to encourage myself and how to look inwardly for guidance rather than needing validation from others. For example, several people advised that I wait some time to pursue the opportunity in South Africa. Some said, “but you’ve never done that before” or “what if it’s not worth the investment of your time/resources?” or “that’s going to be a long trip, do you really want to fly that far?”… It takes some faith and confidence to follow through on a plan in spite of negative feedback (especially from friends and family). So, I politely respond, “thanks for the feedback”. And then go on about my way forward.
Transformative education is a powerful concept. How do you see God working through you in this field, and what message do you hope to share on a global stage?
Transformative education is arguable the single most important issue a nation/society can prioritize. It is something we are not taking nearly enough action about in the US. And when we do, it’s usually through the lens of a completely flawed paradigm or people who have never had the experience stepping foot into a public school in the 21st century, let alone the experience teaching a class of 30 different children.
Because language is important, I want to emphasize the word transformation. A lot of times when discussing education, you will hear people using the words transformation and reformation interchangeably, but I believe this is incorrect. The word reform implies that the thing needing improvement was at some point foundationally adequate. But you cannot reform something that has been broken from the beginning. Our education system here in the US (and I’m sure others around the world too) has never been foundationally adequate. Therefore, it is impossible to reform. We need total transformation of the system.
I see God working through me in this effort. He has gifted me with certain skills, talents, insight, passion, etc. that have equipped me to take each step, cross each stumbling block, and navigate each fork in the road. I see God continue to open new doors and lead me into places where my expertise and vision for change is useful. On a global platform, I want to inspire change in other parts of the world. This can be done by sharing transformational education practices that I have used, researched, and designed over the years.
Many people struggle to recognize or fully embrace their calling. What advice would you give to someone who feels a pull toward something greater but is afraid to take the leap?
I think an important step is to simply recognize and embrace the gifts, talents, and skills that God put in you. These characteristics often point us towards our purpose(s). If you think about the physical action of leaping it usually involves some measure of risk/reward, fear/courage, discomfort/satisfaction- all in one instant. Maybe the leap of faith is like this too. Since we can’t have the reward without the risk, courage without the fear, or satisfaction without the discomfort…we might as well prepare for it all and enjoy the ride.
There is no such thing as failure, just learning opportunities. Maybe calling/purpose does not necessarily mean one single thing/path. For some, purpose might evolve as seasons of life change. Before taking a leap, it’s important to be grounded in the present moment, with the delicate balance of acknowledging/learning from the past while also having a plan in mind for the future.
Faith requires action. What led you to step out in obedience to this assignment?
I am so passionate about this stuff – I don’t usually think of this in terms of obedience because I honestly don’t know how not to do this work. But it took time to build the confidence to walk as boldly in my calling as I do today. As confidence grows, the lens to see the right opportunity becomes clearer and more focused.
I was led to this particular opportunity in South Africa by going down one of my usual rabbit holes researching and reading articles on the internet about transformative education. I think it literally started with a google search ‘transformative ed’, and I eventually came across the webpage calling for proposals at the World Conference on Transformative Education.
As you prepare for this experience in South Africa, what do you hope to learn from this opportunity?
I am excited to learn about the way of education in other parts of the world and how transformation in schools is being studied, perceived and enacted. I imagine that this opportunity will propel me farther and deeper into (a part) of what I believe God created me for.
For more information about transformative education go to https://gite.education/wcte-2025/