Some Middle Tennessee students gathered together Wednesday and began their morning in prayer. Students who came together were participating in this year’s “See You At The Pole” (SYATP) Day where students unite in prayer near the flagpoles at their schools around the United States and the world.
In Middle Tennessee, Davidson Academy students participated in the event that was moved inside due to rain.
On social media, many schools around the country participated in the annual event. Twitter statuses from schools in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, and many others marked the day with a morning prayer.
For those unable to meet together at a flagpole, a student-led prayer movement called “Claim Your Campus” hosted a Live Prayer Moment on YouTube.
According to SYATP’s website, students in more than 64 countries have joined the annual event from places like Canada, Korea, Japan, Turkey, and the Ivory Coast.
SYATP began in early 1990 when a group of students from Burleson, Texas came together for a DiscipleNow weekend. 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. 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 by their schools. The next year, on September 11, 1991, at 7:00 a.m., an estimated one million students gathered at school flagpoles all over the country. The annual event has only grown since then.
This week also marks the Global Week of Student Prayer from Sunday, September 19th to Saturday, September 25th. According to its website, Global Week of Student Prayer consists of “public, private, or home school students praying in unique ways, places and times all week. Some will launch on-campus Bible clubs.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “See You At The Pole” by Piney Woods East FCA.