The youngest children at Bentonville Seventh-day Adventist School gathered around the muddy brick molds outside.
Their little hands pressed straw into the wet clay while Teacher Kerry Thall explained how Hebrew slaves once made bricks in Egypt. The Arkansas sun was already warming the mixture. By the following week, the bricks would be dry enough to carry home.
Thall smiled as she watched her students work. Next week they wouldn’t simply remember reading about the Exodus. They would remember what it felt like to shape a brick with their own hands. And when they proudly carried their projects home, they would have another opportunity to tell their families the story they’d learned.
Bible class in Thall’s classroom rarely looks like a traditional lesson. Students have crawled into the belly of Jonah’s big fish, wrinkled their noses at the smell of hidden tuna, sampled foods from Bible times, and welcomed Roman soldiers and Mary Magdalene into their classroom. Scripture becomes something they live rather than simply memorize.
“I want them to experience it,” Thall says. “When they experience it, they remember it.”
Thall sees her classroom as a mission field. Not only does she want to introduce them to God, but she wants every child who walks through her door to know that someone is in their corner.
“God cares about ordinary days, not just Sabbath mornings,” Thall tells her students. So before a difficult test, the class pauses to pray. When a student’s family is hurting, Thall prays with that student. If friendships become strained, Thall will guide the students to stop and ask God to help them apologize and forgive. Even after the school day ends, Thall often finds herself praying during her drive home, asking God for wisdom to better reach a child the next morning.
Blankets to Share
Students aren’t just learning Bible stories in Thall’s classroom. They’re learning what it looks like to love, serve, and care for others as a follower of Jesus in everyday life. Bentonville students don’t simply experience and hear about compassion. They practice it themselves.
Leaving a staff meeting one day where Thall was prompted to come up with a fourth quarter community outreach idea for her class, she started brainstorming on a mission project. She began with a simple goal. She wanted her students to make 10 blankets for people who needed comfort. Another teacher at the school loved the idea and asked if her class could join as well. Then, even more teachers asked if their classes could also participate. By year’s end 10 became more than 60.
When the students helped deliver the blankets to residents at a local assisted-living facility, the residents and staff were excited. “Please come back next year,” the staff says, “We’ll make a day of it.”
By the end of the second year, the Bentonville school successfully produced more than 180 blankets. School staff, church members, and helpful families all pitched in to cut fabric and tie blankets. Kids would work on tying blankets in their downtime, at recess, or between lessons. Every child at the school had tied at least one blanket.
Then Thall received an invitation from the assisted-living facility. “Please bring your students back,” the invitation says. “We’ll have food, games, and music.” Now, after the third year, the tradition is alive. Starting in October, students make blankets and by the end of the year they have a big blanket-giving party.
Prayers for Gracie
Every morning during worship, Thall asks if anyone has a prayer request. After accepting requests from the students, Thall tells them of requests she has of her own. A few years ago, one name remained on the list for months: Gracie.
Gracie was the daughter of one of Thall’s former students. During the COVID pandemic, Gracie developed Type 1 diabetes, fell into a coma, and wasn’t expected to survive. Every morning the class prayed for her. Days turned into weeks.
“Sometimes,” Thall admitted, “those prayers were difficult.”
Weeks became months. The questions became harder.
“How do you explain to children that sometimes God says yes, sometimes He says no and sometimes He says wait?” she asked.
Thall didn’t have an easy answer for her students. So they kept praying.
But little by little, the updates changed. “Look, Gracie’s feeling better today,” Thall would say, sharing pictures of Gracie’s recovery and milestones with the class. The students watched her recover one step at a time. They made cards and sent her a blanket for comfort.
Eventually, Gracie recovered. For the students, it became more than a happy ending. It became a prayer they had watched God answer one day at a time.
A Teacher of Excellence
It is because of her quiet, consistent ministry Thall became one of the recipients of the Southwestern Union Excellence in Teaching Award. But if you ask her what success looks like, she is unlikely to mention the award.
She’ll tell you about children proudly carrying handmade bricks home to teach their families about the Exodus. She’ll think about the many hands that helped make blankets for strangers. And she’ll smile when she talks about a classroom that prayed faithfully for Gracie until they watched God answer those prayers.
“If they leave my classroom knowing they are loved,” Thall says, “then I’ve been successful.”
