Prayer in schools is alive and well. On Sept. 21, countless students across the nation met around school flagpoles to live out their faith through public prayer during this year’s See You at the Pole (SYATP) event.
Greg Davis, executive director of First Priority of Alabama and member of First Baptist Church, Mount Olive, estimates that more than 100,000 students participated throughout the state with nearly 30,000 students in the greater Birmingham area alone.
“I am thrilled to know that the Christian students who are not ashamed to be salt and light for Jesus are noticed. Not noticed for their sake but so that the Father may be glorified,” said Davis, a former youth pastor who now helps students nationwide conduct Christian group meetings before school.
This year’s SYATP theme was PRAY: call 2 me, based on Jeremiah 33:3, which states, “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Praying for the world
This verse was the heart’s cry of students who prayed to God on behalf of friends, families, schools and the world in general, Davis said.
The National Network of Youth Ministries, which coordinates SYATP promotion, estimated that more than 2 million students assembled in 2004 for SYATP in the United States and at least 20 foreign countries.
“Every year, we have seen SYATP unite students in prayer at the beginning of their school year,” Paul Fleischmann, network president, recently noted. “This day serves as a springboard for continued unity and cooperation for teenagers to reach out to their campuses. We are thrilled with the ownership these young people have taken.”
According to Davis, interest in the event is increasing.
Connecting Christians
“The truth is that many schools are reporting more students gathered this year than ever before,” he said. “The success of SYATP is really found in the local church and the kids from the local church taking it to their campus.”
Jeff McKenzie, middle school pastor at Westwood Baptist Church, Alabaster, said about 100 of his students participated in SYATP events in Pelham and Alabaster.
“I think it is important because it allows students from all over their school who believe in God to get together across denominational boundaries,” McKenzie said. “Everyone said ‘I had no idea there were this many people in my school who claim to follow God.’”
He added that the event is “a chance to express your faith because you are out there exposed to everybody. Just being out there can spawn a conversation to talk with somebody more about Jesus.”
Lacy Allen, a 17-year-old senior who helped organize the event at Thompson High School in Alabaster, believes prayer is important and vital for Christians.
“It’s a great opportunity to have the body of Christ meet in one place to be unified for the purpose of praying for our community, school and nation,” Allen said. “There are thousands of students across the country doing the same thing we are doing, and the encouragement you feel from that is incredible.”
With about 175 students participating at Thompson High, she added that the purpose of SYATP is to glorify God.
“It’s really cool to see all of the students gather around the flagpole knowing there is a common fear of what the other students are going to think,” Allen said.
“But despite that fear, they are still willing to take a stand for God and His name.”
Denis Tanner has led students and young adults at Shades Crest Baptist Church, Hoover, for more than 10 years. Tanner said he appreciates the leadership role students take to make the event a success.
“I think anytime someone is living out his or her faith — more than just living it out at church — it’s an encouragement to anyone that has faith,” he said. “They’re not trying to be in the spotlight. They are just trying to do what they feel the Lord leading them to do.”
Magen Schrimsher, a 13-year-old eighth grader who helped organize the event at Simmons Middle School, was one of about 250 students who participated at her school.
She said she wanted to see people come closer to God and make Him their first priority.
“I think See You At The Pole is important because it gives us time to pray about people (that) sometimes we just don’t care about,” said Schrimsher, a member of Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover. “We are spending time to pray for them to let them know that God will always be there for them.”
Continuing prayer
While SYATP increases the visibility of students praying in school, Davis said it is not the only time students can pray at school.
“With some in the media, there seems to be a misnomer that prayer in schools is illegal,” he said. “I have told TV reporters that as long as there are tests in school, there will always be prayer in school. Students do not give up their First Amendment rights when they step on a middle school or high school campus. They can pray any time they desire.”
Davis added that more than 30,000 students across Alabama meet before school each week in a First Priority Christian club.
“When churches link arms with First Priority, it just extends their ministry to the campus,” he said. “Our theme is every student, every campus, every community.”
Since SYATP began in 1990, Davis said there has never been one problem with students praying at school.
“The reason is because this is a student-initiated and student-led event,” he said. “So it’s perfectly legal. We’ve got a generation of kids who really want to see their family and their community and our nation really sell out to the God of the Bible.”
Normally held on the third Wednesday in September, SYATP will move to the fourth Wednesday in September beginning in 2006.
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