Faith at the flagpole: Students across Oklahoma gather to pray in person, online /// PREVIEWED ON COVER >> by Chris Forbes STAFF WRITER
Early on the morning of Sept. 23, students across the state assembled around their school flag poles and computer monitors to pray together for the 30th annual See You at the Pole (SYATP) gathering. “SYATP began in 1990, when a small group of high school students in Texas felt led by the Lord to pray for their schools,” Brian Baldwin, Oklahoma Baptists student missions and evangelism ministry partner, explained. “God gave them compassion for their lost classmates who needed to know Christ. They determined that their school’s flag pole would be the best gathering place to pour out their hearts to God. “Little did they know that it would lead to a movement in the years that followed, involving thousands of groups of Christian students doing the same thing,” Baldwin continued. “This year, SYATP provided a great opportunity not only for students, but for churches to unite and support this student-led movement. It is important for the unity and prayer emphasis around SYATP to spill out into our churches.” Many student pastors and church youth leaders realized there were challenges to planning this year’s SYATP gatherings because of COVID-19 protocols. Thankfully, they were pleased with the results. “In the midst of everything, I was still blown away at how many students showed up,” said Stuart Tilley, youth pastor at Durant, First. “I think it is awesome to see students come together as one body of believers to pray for each other, their school and their nation,” said Jonathan Chambers, Woodward, First youth pastor. JoLee Guthrie-Denton, a Woodward High School senior, agreed that the value of the prayer gathering is bringing Christian unity to those who participate. “See You at the Pole is important because it brings together our school that is normally divided and separated off into groups,” she said. “This morning during worship and prayer, we were not looking at each other as ‘the star football player’ or the ‘dance team captain,’ but we saw each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, and God alone provides that unity.“ Nick Burchfield, a Minco High School senior, said the event also had evangelistic potential. “SYATP is cool because it can help start Gospel conversations,
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Barnes believes that the Holy Spirit will work more effectively if people can come and let down their guard. They don’t need to keep up a façade that all is as it should be. The primary way that Thrive holds this focus on relational life and mission is through missional communities. The missional community model is not a quick way to start, but it’s likely the best way to build a core team of leaders committed to the vision of a new church. “I’m glad we started with missional communities,” Barnes said. “It has fed into so many things, like a strong core and launch team. We’ve seen lives transform through it.” In time, this process led to having a strong public launch during a pandemic. For launch day, Barnes was not sure who would show up. He thought that prior to this, he might have 25 or more on his launch team with maybe 75 or more people at the first public service.
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>> PHOTOS: PROVIDED 1) A Durant High School student leads others in prayer at the See You At the Pole gathering; 2) Plainview High School football players practice social distancing as they pray at the student-led meeting.
and it helps believers refocus on the fact that school is one of the best places that they can share the love of Christ.” Not all Oklahoma schools were able to allow students to gather at their flag poles. Some schools were not meeting for in-person classes due to COVID-19 protocols. Students who were not able to meet in person, instead had a creative way to gather online. Drew McElhaney, student pastor at Hennessey, First, gave details on how SYATP was observed in his community. “SYATP went sideways for us this year,” McElhaney explained. “We were asked by the school to not do it (Sept. 23) because of some virus cases that popped up (recently). They had not yet completed contact tracing and thought it best to not gather. I get it, but nobody can cancel prayer. We did an Instagram prayer challenge this morning and will have a prayer time tonight at Midweek. I was proud of our students for publicly sharing their prayers on social media.” Scott Cross, youth minister at Norman, Immanuel, observed the benefits of the online prayer gatherings. “In the past, our students have always gone to the poles at their respective schools in Norman, but we’re usually the only church in the area that participates, so they’ve often been the only person(s) at their respective school’s pole praying,” Cross said. “This year, Norman is virtual only and don’t actually have classes on Wednesdays, so we did a prayer breakfast at the church for them instead. We let them have some hangout time as well to help with
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emotional stress from isolation and then prayed together. Given how isolated they’ve been, this might have been better for them at this season of their lives.” Garry McNeill senior pastor at Durant, First, said the value of the event is that it gives students an opportunity to fellowship with other Christian youth. “See You at the Pole is a special time each year because it allows students to identify with other believers in a strong and unified way at their schools,” McNeill said. “Several different students were involved in the planning of the events that were held at multiple schools in Durant and the surrounding area.” McNeill pointed out that, even though there were in-person SYATP gatherings in the state, students were careful to practice social distancing protocols. “Because of COVID-19 concerns, there was an emphasis on keeping the gatherings to less than 15 minutes and on physical distancing,” he said. “As a result, there was no hugging, small prayer huddles with students arm in arm and no holding hands. We continue to ask God to guide us through these challenging times.” Youth leaders have already seen more spiritual clarity result from prayer gatherings. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with students over the past couple years who were confused about the Gospel,” Chambers said, “because so many fellow Christians at school want to have theological and doctrinal debates with them. Today there was none of that. No divisive theological debates; only unity in fervent prayer to our Savior.” For more information about See You at the Pole visit syatp.com.
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As it turned out, there were 45 people on his launch team with 95 percent of them having been involved in missional community. There was a total of 131 in attendance at the service with more than 900 views online. Barnes said that they invested quite a lot into technology, perhaps even 60 percent of their budget. Having a quality online ministry is important, given the current circumstances. Eighty percent of those who attended the preview service had not been to church since the Coronavirus shutdown. “Live stream and kids’ ministry are the two things today that a church must do to be successful,” Barnes said. At the close of the service, three people made professions of faith in Christ; seven wanted to join a missional community, and four volunteered to serve. When asked what is one piece of advice that he would give to a prospective church planter, Barnes
reflected, “I did not realize how much church planting is a work of prayer. It has been the only thing that really works. The best way we have gotten people to community is to pray for them.” Barnes was quick to add how important it is to not try to plant alone. The church would not have started if it were not for Yukon, Canadian Valley, Thrive’s sending church, and Claremore, First, along with support from Capital Association. As part of the church planting strategy of multiplication, new church plant Enid, Open Door, which celebrated its second anniversary on the same day, is a partner church as well. Woodward, Ascent, another plant that celebrated its one-year anniversary on the same day, is a supporting church. For those interested in learning how to become a sending or partner church, or to be involved directly in church planting, contact Send Network Oklahoma at oklahomabaptists.org/send-network.
Features | October 8, 2020 | The Baptist Messenger | www.baptistmessenger.com
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