Even though many teenagers dread waking up in the morning, over 100 Fresno Christian students arrived at school an hour early to take part in prayer and fellowship forSee Your At The Pole(SYATP), Sept. 23.
SYATP is an annual event that takes place at 7 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday of September all over the country. It was founded in order to unify students nationwide by giving them the opportunity to pray for their peers, teachers and government leaders.
For Principal Todd Bennett, this year’s SYATP provided an opportunity to know his students on a deeper level.
“I was excited to be able to fully participate in See You At the Pole,” Bennett said. “Matthew 18:20 says, ‘For where two or three come together in there am I with them’ [New International Version]. When we gather in prayer, the Lord’s presence strengthens us. Praying with our students helps me to know their heart; listening and praying with them that morning, I can now add their intentions to my daily prayers.”
Like Bennett, Bible teacher Rob Foshee says he found joy in seeing his students gathered to focus on God.
“This years SYATP was awesome because students were engaging in prayer on behalf of their school, teachers, fellow students, city, government, and world,” Foshee said. “Students gathered and sought God for guidance, renewal and passion. It’s amazing to see what God is doing on our campus. Our goal this year is to go all out and we can only do that by going deeper with God. By praying and seeking God many students are clearly doing this.”
Despite the early hour, sophomore Zed Fries says he felt enthusiastic about attending SYATP with his peers.
“I felt like it was a tremendously uplifting experience,” Fries said. “Everyone there was honest about how they felt about our school, and the whole event was God-centered, God was definitely there that morning and I know he heard our prayers.”
Junior Cassidy Hutchins says she views SYATP as an opportunity to praise God alongside her peers.
“People can be selfish in their interpretation of God,” Hutchins said. “They think ‘what can God do for me today?’, instead of praising him and trying to be selfless. We need to focus on praising him for being God, we don’t need any other reason than that. We should dwell on the things he already does for us instead of constantly asking for more.”
Although Hutchins says the experience was valuable, it took a change in strategy to find the most beneficial prayer style.
“At first, the people who were there today seemed shallow and just doing it because their friends were there,” Hutchins said. “There wasn’t enough depth; it was Sunday school answers. When we got into small groups people opened up making themselves more vulnerable. This makes the conversation much better and deeper.”
While other people may have focused on their own needs, freshman Ashlyn Key says she empathized with our country’s leaders and focused her prayers on them.
“SYATP made me think about how hard our leaders work every day,” Key said “It must be a lot of stress for President Obama to run the country. We also need to pray for public school teachers who are not allowed to talk about Jesus Christ with their students.”
For more information, read the Sept. 18 article, See You at the Pole reconvenes.
