Students to Gather for 'See You at the Pole' Despite Pledge Ruling
Over two million students nationwide are expected to gather at their school flagpoles to pray during the annual See You at the Pole (SYATP) event on Wednesday. The prayer rally takes place at most schools at 7 a.m.
Over two million students nationwide are expected to gather at their school flagpoles to pray during the annual See You at the Pole (SYATP) event on Wednesday.
The prayer rally takes place at most schools at 7 a.m. before classes begin. Students will pray for the country, the President, and for the many victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"I think it's important to pray for our school," said Sara Stacey, organizer of the event at Campbell County High School in Kentucky, as reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
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Local churches are holding special pre-rally events to get students excited about the national student prayer day. Some held "Campus Challenge Sunday" commissioning services during the weekend.
The First Baptist Church of Maryville in Maryville, Ill., is hosting a pre-rally event that will include a skateboard demo by "King of Kings" and the "Livin’ It Project," Christian skateboarders and BMX riders who usually go on tour with youth speaker and actor Stephen Baldwin.
The scheduled SYATP event comes just one week after a San Francisco Federal Judge ruled Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because of the words "Under God." The judge said he will issue a restraining order to keep it out of three school districts in Sacramento, Calif., where the children of the parents who filed the suit attend.
David Overstreet, spokesman for SYATP and Assistant Director for Field Ministries of National Network of Youth Ministries, which coordinates SYATP promotion, said he wouldn't be surprised if the constitutionality of See You at the Pole gatherings is challenged in the future.
"It's where we are as a country," Overstreet told the Christian Post Monday. "Our history as a nation, our forefathers, everything that went into putting this nation together is under attack."
But he gave assurance that it is legal for students to gather with their Christian clubs before school starts and observe the event, saying there is a lot of "misinformation."
According to the Students' Rights page of the SYATP website, students can gather and pray as long as the event is student-led, it is before school hours, is outside of any school building, and does not cost the district.
However, Overstreet encourages parents, pastors, or teachers to refrain from leading or participating actively in the prayer gathering and instead let the students take charge of the event activities.
"It's a movement by students for students," he said, adding that having other non-student participants lead the event may affect its legality.
But Overstreet said he parents should still pray for students and their schools because "they are the future."
And while it's good to have a certain awareness level when it comes to religious issues in society such as the Pledge of Allegiance, said Overstreet, the answer is not in politics.
"The answer is through prayer, being on our knees. That will change things," he said. "We have to trust in God for the future."
The student-initiated prayer movement, which began with a small gathering of about 10 students at a Texas high school in 1990, is still going strong. Last year, more than 2 million teens took part in all 50 states and from 20 countries worldwide.
The purpose is to ask God "to bring moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and countries."
This year's theme is "PRAY: call 2 me" based on Jeremiah 33:3, where God says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (NASB).
This will be the last year SYATP will be on the third Wednesday of September. Beginning next year, the event will be observed on the fourth Wednesday of September.
For the four following Fridays after the event, See You at the Pole will publish newsletters on how different cities observed the prayer day.
More information on See You at the Pole can be found at: www.syatp.org.
