Chris Lange, FISM News
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Students across the U.S. and beyond gathered at campus flagpoles on Wednesday for the 33rd annual “See You at The Pole” event. There they lifted up their schools, teachers, communities, the nation, and the unreached in prayer.
“Wholehearted” was the theme of this year’s event, inspired by Jeremiah 29:13 in which the Lord declares to captive Israelites in Babylon: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”
The student-led, grassroots prayer rally began in 1990, when 10 Burleson, Texas, teenagers felt led by the Lord to pray for their school. When they had finished, they visited two more schools nearby and did the same. Today, millions of students and faculty members participate in what has become a global prayer movement.
Ahead of this year’s See You at The Pole (SYATP) event, organizers mobilized parents to participate in prayer walks around their local schools. SYATP spokesperson Doug Clark said that the ministry has long hoped that the annual event would encourage students and their families to make prayer a daily practice at home.
“We have always been interested in having the moment of See You at the Pole move towards a movement of prayer,” Clark told the Baptist Press on Monday. “We feel like that’s one of the most powerful legacies See You at the Pole can provide.”
SYATP partnered with Claim Your Campus and dozens of other groups for this year’s event, which took place in the middle of the Global Week of Student Prayer.
Clark acknowledged that attendance suffered during the pandemic when SYATP was forced to move the event online, but he said that attendance has been steadily rebounding to near pre-pandemic numbers.
“Last year was significantly greater than 2021, and this year [the resource office] is running out of materials,” he said.
Billy Beachum, SYATP office director and president of Student Discipleship Ministries, said interest in event resources has, in fact, grown faster than anticipated.
“We were up over 200 percent last year and another 35 percent this year,” Beachum said. “We aren’t completely to the level we were pre-pandemic, but since so much is done now through social media, etc., most places that do SYATP don’t really need us for anything,” he continued, adding that “so much of the new growth we simply cannot measure.”
‘BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF’
Students from schools across the U.S. shared images on social media of groups ranging from 10 or 12 to 100 or more gathered in prayer at their respective campuses Wednesday morning, along with a #syatp2023 hashtag.
“Blessed beyond belief!!” were the words that accompanied an image of several young women holding hands and praying posted to X by a high school girls basketball team in Laquey, Missouri.
Laquey SYATP 2023! Blessed beyond belief!! A big THANK YOU to Katie Sanders for bringing donuts!! Super proud of senior Makenna Miller for leading the way!!❤️🖤💫 #SYATP #Laquey #hornetpride #wholeheartedly pic.twitter.com/8IDpGGZ632
— LaqueyGBBLadyHornets (@LaqueyGbb) September 27, 2023
“Beautiful scene this morning at BHS!” an intercessory prayer group of parents and teachers in Cypress, Texas wrote. “Pray for these students to continue to seek the Lord in prayer, for unity among believers, and for students to see their classmates as God sees them – made in His image and worthy of His love!”
A student sign language club at a Missouri school shared an image of young people huddled together in prayer captioned: “Our Deaf and hard of hearing students were able to join their hearing peers at the accessible ‘See You at The Pole’ on the Global Day of Student Prayer.”
Our Deaf and hard of hearing students were able to join their hearing peers at the accessible “See You at The Pole” on the Global Day of Student Prayer. #seeyouatthepole #syatp #syatp2023 (Source: LMS PTO) pic.twitter.com/RB6sD5eQyr
— Lewisburg Sign Language Club (@BurgSignClub) September 28, 2023
SYATP organizers were thrilled by the turnout, but Beachum said it would be impossible to provide a total tally. He explained that many schools and groups don’t notify SYATP of their participation.
“Thank you! We are blown away by how See You at the Pole 2023 went!” event organizers wrote. “We give God all the glory and pray that He starts a movement out of this moment. We hope you are all encouraged and determined to see more regular prayer in your schools! It starts with YOU.”
Clark said that a second prayer walk will take place on Saturday.
“We feel like that’s an ongoing challenge to congregations, to just take time to walk and pray for schools,” Clark said, adding that there is a need for “supportive prayer for the ongoing mission trip that students are on as they spend nine months of their year on campus.”
He explained that Christian students are ambassadors for Christ and that their schools are their mission field.
“Our churches are very intentional about supporting missionaries on the field. I don’t think our churches do as good a job of supporting students in their mission field.”
SYATP takes place on the fourth Wednesday in September each year.
This article was partially informed by Baptist Press, CBN, and Times News reports.