By Larry Stover
Pastor at Praise Park Ministries Church of the Nazarene

One of the spiritual highlights of September is the annual “See You at the Pole” prayer gatherings at schools across the country and around the world.

This coming Wednesday, Dallas County area schools will be joining millions of other students to celebrate more than 25 years of students, faculty, and family members gathering for prayer around school flag poles.
The history behind this event is awesome.

If you are not familiar with it, let me share with you from their website.

A small group of teenagers in Burleson, Texas, came together for a “Disciple Now” weekend in early 1990.

They came seeking God and little did they know how powerfully He was about to move.

On Saturday night their hearts were penetrated like never before, when they became broken before God and burdened for their friends.

Compelled to pray, they drove to three different schools that night.

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 would use their obedience.

God used what He did among those teenagers and others who were holding similar prayer meetings at their schools to birth a vision in the hearts of youth leaders across Texas.

The vision was that students throughout Texas would follow these examples and meet at their school flagpoles to pray simultaneously.

The challenge was name “See You at the Pole” at a brainstorming session during a meeting of key youth leaders.  The vision was shared with 20,000 students in June 1990 at Reunion Arena in Dallas Texas.

Only God had envisioned how many students would step up to the challenge.

At 7:00 a.m. on Sept. 12, 1990, more than 45,000 teenagers met at school flagpoles in four different states to pray before the start of school.

Reports came into a toll-free number for days after the first event.

A few months later, a group of youth ministers from all over the country gathered together for a national conference in Colorado.  Many of them reported that their students had heard about the prayer movement in Texas and were equally burdened for their schools.  No other events had been planned, but it was clear that students across the country would be creating their own national day of student prayer.  There was no stopping them.

On September 11, 1991, at 7:00 a.m. an estimated one million students gathered at school flagpoles all over the country.
From Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles, California; from North Dakota to the tip of Texas, students came together to pray.

Some sang, some read scripture, but most importantly, they prayed.

Like those first students, they prayed for their schools, for their friends, for their leaders, and for their country.
As in all great movements of prayer, “See You at the Pole” did not begin in the hearts of people.

It began in the heart of God.  God used the obedience of a small group of teenagers to ignite what has become an international movement of prayer among young people.

Check with your school or pastor about the time for a prayer meeting this coming Wednesday.

If nothing is planned, I encourage you to show up after 7:00 AM and pray for your schools.

Do something.  Get involved. Prayer changes things. It also makes life “Simply Beautiful.”