See You At The Pole

A small group of teenagers in Burleson, Texas, came together for a DiscipleNow weekend in early 1990. They came seeking God. Little did they know how powerfully God was about to move. On Saturday night God penetrated their hearts like never before. The students were 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 named See You at the Pole™ by a local student at an early brainstorming session. 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 a.m. on September 12, 1990, more than 45,000 teenagers met at school flagpoles in four different states to pray before the start of school.

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 a.m., one million students gathered at school flagpoles all over the country. From Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California, 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.

Since 1991, See You at the Pole™ has grown to God-sized proportions. Within only a couple of years, students were praying in several countries around the world. Now, more than two million students from all 50 states participate in SYATP. Students in more than 20 countries take part. In places like the Netherlands, the Congo, the Philippines, Canada, and Mexico, students are responding to God and taking seriously the challenge to pray.

Join the millions from across our nation and around the world as they continue to pray that God will bring revival. Whether you stand by yourself at your school or among hundreds who pray on your campus, know that you are part of a vast, united movement of prayer. Don’t be left out of what God wants to do with your campus, your city, and our world through your prayers. Decide now that you will be a part of See You at the Pole™!