March 21, 2022
Do any of y’all remember See You At the Pole? If you went to a Christian middle or high school, you might.
Basically, See You At the Pole is an event that happens once a year. On that day, in the morning, the Christians at the school gather around the school’s flagpole and pray. It only lasts about ten or fifteen minutes (it doesn’t intrude into first hour) and then it’s done. You can pray for whatever or whoever you want. Since it occurs around the flag pole, you might think it’s specifically meant to pray for the government or the President or the country, but not necessarily.
My Christian high school was all about See You At the Pole. They started warming us up for it about two weeks beforehand, encouraging as many people to show up at the pole as possible (then they’d post the pictures on the school website for some sleek marketing) and they’d assign some of the staff to be there as well. Since I was a good little Christian boy back then, I’d show up to school early that day to pray around the flag pole.
After graduating high school, I thought I was done with See You At the Pole, but I was wrong. I started working with the youth ministry at my church, and the director (who I’ve written about before) was all about “going where the kids were.” He liked to be present in the youth group kids’ lives even when they weren’t at church. That meant attending Friday night high school football games, visiting school campuses during lunch time, and of course, See You At the Pole.
When SYATP came around, he strategically divided up the youth leaders and assigned them to certain schools around the city. Then we had to show up to that school’s flag pole in the morning, find the youth group kids that attended that school, and pray with them. The hopeful idea was that the youth kids’ friends would see him talking to a “cool, older” person and ask him about it, at which point they’d be invited to church.
I did SYATP as a youth leader several times. I pissed and moaned and grumbled about having to wake up earlier than normal to make it to a high school campus when I had early college classes, but I did it anyway. All for the glory of God and furthering his kingdom, of course.
However, after the last time I did SYATP, I declared to myself that I wouldn’t do it anymore. Here’s the story:
Showing up for SYATP was easy when I was assigned an affluent, private Christian school. There, the school staff knew who I was because usually their own kids were in our youth group. But of course, not all kids in our youth group attended affluent, private Christian schools.
That year, one other youth leader and I went to a public middle school. We rocked up on campus and quickly found the flagpole. Since it was a public school, there was no religion taught or professed, thus SYATP hadn’t been advertised like it was at Christian schools. My friend and I were the only two people lurking around the flag pole—and clearly standing out.
We waited nervously. I’d spoken to the youth group kids who attended this school beforehand and they’d assured me that they’d meet us at the pole and pray with us. I wondered if they would. Being a public, non-religious school, I was aware that there was possibly some high stakes socially for these kids to be seen praying in public. I wondered if they would follow through with their promise.
As we waited, we were spotted by a teacher on duty. She swiftly approached us and (rightfully) asked us what we were doing on campus.
“We’re here for See You At the Pole,” I said.
She gave me a strange look. “See me at the pole?”
“No. See You At the Pole.” Only after I said it did I realize it clarified nothing.
My friend haphazardly began to explain to this lady what SYATP was, starting from the beginning. “You see, there’s an annual event on high school campuses around the country called See You At the Pole, where Christian high school students gather…”
The teacher only shook her head and narrowed her eyes. My friend’s explanation only made her more suspicious. She started looking around for other teachers on duty—probably for backup or witnesses.
At the last minute the youth group kids showed up and greeted us. The teacher was even more confused when she saw that her students knew who we were.
They tried to reassure her. “These are youth leaders from my church. We’re just going to pray real quick.”
And since they had to get to class, we hurried up and prayed for a minute and a half, possibly less, and that was that.
The teacher didn’t leave. She watched the whole thing suspiciously, and understandably so. We wrapped up, the kids went to class, and my friend and I left.
We’d go on to tell this story at the next leadership meeting and it got a bunch of laughs. But in hindsight, the whole thing was a lot more serious and potentially dangerous than I think we understood. But back then, it was all about “getting out of your comfort zone for the Lord.”
I regret that morning. It was so stupid. Back then, I thought God had my back in all things and blessed every endeavor that I made to further his kingdom. Now, I clearly understand that all I did was make a hard-working teacher start her day with a nervous scare.
I wonder if my old church’s youth leaders still visit middle and high school campuses for SYATP. I would hope not. Strange adults lingering around high schools wasn’t cool back when I participated, but these days people are far more cautious of such things (which is a good thing).