Millions of Students Pray at School Flagpoles

 

The theme for students praying at this year’s event centered on 1 Sam.
3:10—“Speak, for your servant is listening” (NIV). Organizers said students
earnestly prayed early Wednesday morning for God to bring a moral and spiritual
awakening to their campuses and nations.

 

Paul Fleischmann, president of San Diego-based National Network of Youth
Ministries, which helps to coordinate the annual event, said each See You at the
Pole gathering serves as a springboard for unity among teens. “Young people have
taken unprecedented leadership through this to have a positive impact at their
schools,” he said.

 

See You at the Pole in Canada also was observed Wednesday morning. Its
official Web site points out that the prayer event is not a demonstration, a
political rally, “nor a stand for or against anything.”

 

“This is all about students,” the site states, “meeting at their school
flagpole, or somewhere else if you don't have one, to pray for their school,
friends, teachers, government and their country.”

Though pastors, parents and spiritual leaders seek to emphasize the
apolitical and solely spiritual ambitions of See You at the Pole’s student-led
prayer movement, activists concerned with a clear separation of church and state
often pay close attention to adult involvement at the flagpoles—especially area
pastors.

 

Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian legal advocacy group, offers
free legal services to students whose schools attempt to block them from
participating in See You at the Pole events.

 

In addition to Canada, more than 20 nations take part in See You at the
Pole rallies, including Guam, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Ivory Coast and
Australia. —Paul Steven Ghiringhelli