Prayer Meeting @ the Flagpole
A small group of teenagers in Burleson, TX, came together for a DiscipleNow weekend in early 1990. On that Saturday night, the students were broken and burdened for their friends. Compelled to pray, yet not knowing exactly what to do, they went to the school flagpoles and prayed for their friends, schools, and leaders. Those students had no idea how God was using them to birth a movement.
Those teens, like others who were holding similar prayer meetings at their schools, placed a vision in the heart of youth leaders across Texas – for students to pray on the same day. The name See You at the Pole™ came from an early brainstorming session and the vision was shared with 20,000 students in June 1990 at Reunion Arena in Dallas, TX.
At 7 a.m. on September 12, 1990, more than 45,000 teenagers met at school flagpoles in four different states to pray. A few months later, youth ministers from all over the country met at a national conference in Colorado. Many reported their students heard abut SYATP and were equally burdened for their schools. Just one year later – on September 11, 1991 – an estimated one million students gathered at school flagpoles from Boston to LA.
See You at the Pole™ has grown to God-sized proportions, spreading around the world and is now generally observed on the fourth Wednesday in September. Today, more than two million students from all 50 states & more than 20 other countries participate in SYATP. Bible clubs, weekly prayer gatherings, and other on-campus ministries have been launched on campuses where students have stepped up and led out to pray. The main focus of SYATP continues to be prayer – not just talking about prayer, but actually praying for God to move.
Adults and students alike: let’s join millions around the world in asking God to bring revival and spiritual awakening to His Church. Pray for our local schools. Pray for wisdom for those who lead and teach. Pray that God will build up a core of students whose purpose will be to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with non-Christian friends on (and off) campus. Pray for students all over the world who are gathering, as well as for those who have little to no religious freedom and are afraid or not allowed to pray publicly.
