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Hundreds Of Students Join In Prayer At See You At The Pole Rallies
September 23, 2009
(Updated) Hundreds of North Escambia students gathered to pray at their schools Wednesday morning as part of the annual See You At The Pole rally.
“I pray that we take cause in God and stand up, even when nobody else does,” Rebekah Miles, an eighth grade student at Ernest Ward Middle School prayed as she stood around the flagpole with her peers.
From Ernest Ward to Northview High School to Molino Park Elementary, hundreds did the same thing Wednesday morning — bowing their heads in prayer for fellow students, their schools, their countries. Students often prayed or encouraged others to take a stand for their Lord in light of recent court rulings restricting prayer in neighboring Santa Rosa County.
“Engage: Go and pray . . ” from 2 Kings 22:13a was the theme verse for the non-denominational See You at the Pole event at thousands of schools across the nation Wednesday.
“It is our job as Christians to engage and get God back in schools,” Northview High School junior Sarah Killam said shortly before leading scores of Northview students in the song “How Great Is Our God”.
A community-wide See You At the Pole Rally was held Wednesday night at the Flomaton High School Auditorium.
For a photo gallery from Northview High, Ernest Ward Middle and Molino Park Elementary click here.
See You at the Pole is a student-initiated, student organized, and student-led event scheduled annually on the fourth Wednesday in September. This is the 20th year for the event that started in a Ft. Worth, Texas, suburb.
Pictured top: Eighth grade student Rebekah Miles leads students in prayer Wednesday morning at Ernest Ward Middle School. Pictured inset: Students pray at Molino Park Elementary. Pictured below: See You At The Pole at Northview. Pictured bottom: See You At the Pole at Ernest Ward. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Molino Park photos courtesy Candy McGahan.
Comments
31 Responses to “Hundreds Of Students Join In Prayer At See You At The Pole Rallies”
I THINK IF YOU ALL YOU WANNA DO IS BE NEGATIVE “MEDIA” YOU SHOULDN’T EVEN COMMENT. THESE CHILDREN ARE OUT THERE PRAYING BY CHOICE , FRANKLY ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, WHATS GOING ON . AND YOU NEED NOT TRY TO BREAK THE SPIRIT OF THESE CHILDREN THEY WILL PRAY TO GOD WHEN AND WHERE THEY WOULD LIKE WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL.
By the way, in one of the first lines in the story up top, I said while I was praying, “For us to take courage in God, and stand up for Christ even when nobody else does.”
Hope you guys are accepting of other religions that decide to pray at the poll, you will be behind that right?
Leslie,
i do not agree.
Today’s pasters or leaders as you call them are self appointed.
If they feel they must lord over God’s Heritage, live on the dole of hard working people for a trade and personnel advancement and power then they are hirings.
Withold the salaries they have as a stranglehold over “their” flock and they will some leave town.
They are around for the good times, rarely seen in the trenches with the laymen who face the world, the flesh, and the devil within his own home, community,and workplace.
There is nothing in Scriptures that say we must support these self appointed leaders of the Laodicean Church who follow the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes.
I have the Lord and Savior and I do not need to finance an imposter and cheap imitiation.
You want finance a bankrupted proposition then go ahead bankroll men deceivers who are themselves deceived……
To the students:
Thank you for continuing these efforts at the respective schools. The world will need you to stay as strong in your twenties, and beyond, as you have shown to be in your teens. Don’t let people rob you of your convictions (especially if you pursue higher education).
Want to know more about this event and what it is really all about? Go to http://www.syatp.com/ and click on Enter Site Here
Young people, I am proud of you for standing up for your rights and for keeping your focus on God. May your faithfulness bless many around you. Time on earth is short, whether it is a day or many years.
William, thanks for your service to this community, for providing a site that we can access and truthful stories that we can read… at our will.
Media said: Frankly I am tired of this being in the news; enough already!
Did someone FORCE you to click on this story link and read the story? NO, you did it of your own free will. You could have skipped over it. There are plenty of stories for you to read here on northescambia.com and elsewhere that involves crime, so go enjoy that if it makes you feel any better. You should really be ashamed of yourself for saying such negative things about our young people.
We are so proud of the prayers the students gave us and the courage they showed by making a stand. We need all the prayers we can get to make it through each day in this very messed up society we are all living in now.
Media, I will add you in my prayers, that you will one day feel God’s love, spirit, strength, compassion and forgiveness. I don’t know who you are, but the Lord
knows who you are, as you cannot hide from him. You cannot hide the things you do or say and I want you to know that he is with you right now, just waiting for you to call upon him.
Way to go students! If our schools are going to see change, this is the only way it will happen. May God bless each of you. Keep it up! Form Bible study groups, prayer groups, Christian bands, etc among your peers!
Media1, if you read the Holy Scriptures that you are speaking of, you will find that God appointed pastors as shepherds over local congregations of Christians. People didn’t appoint them, God did. If a church has the financial means to hire a full time pastor & pay him a full time salary & beneifts (even though most around here do NOT have the means), he can be a priceless comodity to that church & community! I know because I’ve seen it first hand. I grew up in a church that could not afford to pay its pastor very much. Therefore, he was forced to work a fulltime secular job to support his family. The work of the church & the community suffered because of this. As an adult, I attend a church who is able to support a full time pastor and the difference is evident. My pastor works tirelessly to support the community & church & to do the work of God. He keeps full time office hours and has an open door policy. He’s constantly counseling people, praying for them, calling & visiting sick people, preaching weddings and funerals, handling staffing issues, while still studying the Word so he can teach us.
Media1, if you have met a money hungry pastor in your lifetime, I’m very sorry to hear that. But I am here to tell you that not all are like that & the office of “pastor” was appointed by God himself. Just read the New Testament to see how the church should operate & be careful not to curse God’s anointed, appointed men. And please know that there are pastors out there who give up the comfort of this world to serve God & His people. Some work for little or nothing. Don’t minimize that, please!
you know Jesus had only 12 men and one of them was a devil but look what jesus did with jest 12 people so if only one showed up at the pole sometime thats allit takes is 1
To Media1 WHAT??????
Excuse me Media! Where are you from? It doesn’t sound like you have an idea what you are talking about. Ernest Ward doesn, have 1800 students. And it doesn’t matter if there were half that many to show up for this. What matters is some did. You sound very bitter about this. This is not forced prayer, this is students only who believe in Jesus Christ. Teachers, anministration, or parents are not allowed to be involved. THAT is when the law would be broken. In my opionion Frank Lay broke the law and got away with it. Whole different thing. And it is prey not pray on someone!!
I am very happy with the Ernest Ward turnout for See you at the Pole. It was amazing! Being a christian student is hard but we can do all things through Christ. I hope and I know that there are students at Ernest Ward and Northview that will stand up for Christ even if nobody else does. Also, See you at the Pole is not forced upon students. Students freely come to it to pray for there nation, schools, and teachers. God Bless. Thank you for all the encouragement and thank everybody for coming to our (Ernest Ward’s and Northview’s) See you at the Pole!
I am so proud of the many young people at See You At The Pole. In response to Media I am a bus driver and was not able to meet at the pole nor were any of the kids riding the bus to public school because they had to be transported by private vehicle to paticipate.No one was forced but alot were kept from being there because they have Meet You At The Pole before school hours and the bus kids arent there yet. If this were not the case I am sure there would have been more.Also there are not 1800 kids in all of these 3 schools combined .
To God be the glory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am proud of OUR youth, I thank god for all of you.
Young and brave Christian youth need encouragement.
Why do we need to pay local pasters and preachers such high salaries?
We really do not need them when as community having a belif in God and the Holy Scriptures we can walk in our Faith.
Why must we subsistize such a pampered group…with homes, vehicles, and a trade?
All we need is our Precious Savior
t
Awesome turnout!
I am SO proud of this group of young people (my niece being one of them). In a world that allows EVERY OTHER MINORITY GROUP TO HAVE A SAY AND ALL THE RIGHTS THAT CAN BE THOUGHT OF, this group is letting it be known that THEIR RIGHTS AS CHRISTIANS ARE IMPORTANT TO THEM & WORTH STANDING UP FOR!!! So to all of you kids that took a stand I say YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!
Thank God for see you at the pole we had 137 people come to Northviews today it was amazing and you knew that God was in our school! Thank you for not taking prayer from the students!!
Media, this isnt forced prayer.. All that comes to this event comes on their own free will, something God gives us all. It is up to each individual to choose to be apart of their public display of their faith……… It takes courage and a commited heart to stand up for what they believe in.
Media, as I see it, no one was forced to go to this. And personally, I don’t care if your tired of hearing about it. Get over it. It’s better than a story about a murder, roberry, break in, drive by shooting, or so on. I suppose you would rather have the negative instead of the positive side of things. And if you can COUNT, LOOK AT ALL THREE PICTURES AND COUNT. There is definetely more than one hundred, which by definition fits “hundreds”. Frank Lay never forced anybody to pray, you where wrong again. If someone doesn’t want to pray, they don’t. A prayer being said around someone that doesn’t want to hear doesn’t cause them any harm.
In response to Media:
No one was forced to join. No one has EVER been forced to join. As students, we CHOSE to pray around that flag, to have fellowship with our fellow Christian students. Considering all the anti-prayer that is being shoved down OUR throats, this minority looks and feels like hundreds. It takes one person to sow the good seed, and it will only keep spreading.
Wow, what an AWESOME sight to see the photos of the many students that were at the poles this morning…. What a blessing… Thanks William. It brought tears of joy to see the students stand up for their faith in praying for their schools, teachers and fellow students and our nation. To the person called Media, if you count all the kids that showed up all across Escambia county, there was hundreds. There is always going to be the one person to have negative comments to say about something that is done for the name of our Lord. This person must not be a saved child of our King…….. Thanks William for all that you do for our community………
“Media” I beg to differ, as I can count.
Also, there are NOT 1,800 students at any one of the three schools mentioned above.
The author wrote:
“Hundreds of North Escambia students gathered to pray at their schools this morning as part of the annual See You At The Pole rally.”
Looks like fewer than a hundred, NOT HUNDREDS! Given that this school has over 1800 students, looks like only a small MINORITY actually showed up. So given this information it appears that the MAJORITY of the students have no interest in this forced prayer Frank Lay is shoving down everyone’s throat. Frankly I am tired of this being in the news; enough already! So a few students want to pray; pray on good people, just don’t force EVERYONE to join you.
Glad to see a great turn out at the schools. Very proud of you Rebekah Miles at Ernest Ward and Kayla Miles at Northview. How Great Is Our God!!!
This is so great.
Way to go Auden!!!!!!!!
I am so proud of all of our students! My husband and I are the youth pastors at Victory Assembly of God in Cantonment, Florida. Rebekah Miles from Ernest Ward Middle School is a part of our youth. She and several of our other students helped put together their See You @ The Pole events. Even in times like we are living in today, there are still young people that desire to seek God. God bless all of you who took a stand for Christ.
This assembly reflects the power and conviction of prayer. Student organized, student led and participated by many! we do live in a great country that allows us to worship freely. this right has come under attack recently but we will take a stand and let the government know we will not give up that right. This country was founded with God, and now is not the time to try and take that out of the schools. if we look around at all of the war, famin, and disasters it should be clear we need God more now than ever before. GOD BLESS AMERICA and these Students that followed their conviction to organize this.
AMEN TO THAT!!!!!
We didn’t have anything like this when I was a student attending high school…once upon a time. I am glad that the young people have this
now more than ever, as these times are way more challanging to live
in and get through.
I’m extemely proud of all those who take a stand for Christ and include
him in your life, no matter how big or small it may be. He loves you no
matter what and he walks beside you every step you take.