ALPHARETTA, Ga.  When students gather around flagpoles for prayer Sept. 17 for the annual See You at the Pole observance, parents in many areas will also get into the act through Campus Prayer Journeys.
Baptist Press reported that the event traditionally is conducted on the night before the See You at the Pole prayer meeting for students. Chad Childress, a North American Mission Board campus evangelism specialist said the concept is now becoming a year-round activity.
"The primary goal is to get the church to have the school on the forefront of their mind as an incredible mission field," he said. "It's essentially saying that adults are praying for the salvation and the safety of students on the campus."
The event began in Arkansas in 1998 in the wake of school shootings in that state, but has since expanded nationally, the news service reported.
Campus Prayer Journeys participants are encouraged to walk, skate, jog around the campus and pray for the students, teachers and school staff. The original concept was that parents and other adults in the community meet 12 hours before the suggested 7 a.m. time for students to meet at their flagpoles for See You at the Pole, but in some areas the event is now held more often.
"We're really moving toward churches doing it at any point they want throughout the year," Childress said.
A Southern Baptist youth group in Burleson, Texas, started See You at the Pole in 1990. In 2002, more than 2.5 million teenagers participated in all 50 states.
