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How to Share Your Faith Using See You at the Pole

See You At the Pole, the annual student gathering at school flagpoles across the country, is happening this Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 7:00 a.m. (YES, that's a.m.)! The verse this annual event springs from (loosely translated) says

"call 2 me & i will answer u & sho u gr8 & myT things u don't kno." (Jer 33:3)

This awesome promise of God's lays it out straight up - if we call to God in prayer, we're in for some surprises. Are you up for an adventure? If you are, let's look at some strategic ways you can make the most of this coming event and use it to share your faith with your friends.

  1. Be proactive. Plan ahead to be there! Get the word out - a lot of kids don't show up because they didn't realize it was happening this week! Invite your friends - those you know are Christians, those you suspect aren't and those you have no clue about. You may find this an amazing statistic, but nearly 9 out of 10 teens (89%) say that they pray at least weekly. That's not to say that all those teens are followers of Jesus, but it does indicate there's a huge reservoir of interest in spiritual things among your peers. Remember that when you give a friend a personal invitation to join you at the flagpole, it might be just the motivation they need to show up. It's the difference between knowing there's a school football game on Friday night, and being invited to PLAY on the team. You'd probably be much more serious about showing up for the game if you knew the team really wanted and needed you there! You may be amazed to find that more teens might object to the 7:00 a.m. part of your invitation than to the prayer part of the invite. And speaking of that, being proactive includes planning ahead by setting your alarm earlier and arranging transportation!

  2. Be prepared. When you invite friends to join you, be prepared to explain what you believe and why you believe prayer is important. If you need help explaining your beliefs, visit the GOSPEL Journey. If you need help explaining why prayer is important to you, check out the Soul Fuel on prayer called Hotline to Heaven. Inviting people to See You At the Pole may open up conversational opportunities to share your faith, even if you find that someone has no serious interest in getting to school at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning. You can always follow up with an alternate invitation to come to your youth group some evening! Another compelling reason to spread the personal invitations around is that seeing an impersonal group gathered around the flagpole on Wednesday morning can conjure up stereotypes of rabid Christians, but hearing someone you know (and hopefully respect) explain why kids gather to pray can make a huge difference. Be prepared to explain why praying for your school is important - explain that you care about your school and the kids in it. You may or may not know that Dare 2 Share was launched as a full-time ministry specifically as a result of the Columbine school shooting tragedy. The staff at Dare 2 Share stop every morning at 11:21 a.m. (the time the Columbine tragedy commenced) and gather to pray for teens all across this country. Prayer is essential for all believers in accomplishing what God has called us to do as His followers.

  3. Be prayerful and humble. Do your part to make the See You At the Pole prayer time filled with praise to God, with humility, and with prayer for your school and your fellow students. Don't turn it into a rant and rave time against the heathen! Lift your school up in love, expressing your care and concern. Confess your own sins of hypocrisy, judgmental attitudes and whatever, rather than pointing your finger at others. 2 Chron. 7:14 says, "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." In these verses, God's talking about HIS people, not those who don't even know Him yet!

  4. Be unified in Christ. Don't let the different clichés, social groups, denominations or campus ministries throw up barriers as you all gather together. Gathering at the pole is a great chance to come together in unity. You may have had no clue that the skater kid that sits across from you in English is a believer or that the jock four lockers down is interested in spiritual things. It will amaze the nonbelievers to see kids from all groups of the school gathered together to express their care and commitment for their school and their God. And it will be encouraging all year long to meet people in the halls that you saw at the pole on Wednesday and know you share a common bond of love for your fellow students and for God.

  5. Be reactive. After it's over, look for opportunities to talk about it and bring up spiritual conversations. And if you hear someone bad-mouthing it, step up and take the risk of encouraging diversity and tolerance (those favorite buzzwords of this era!) that should rightly include Christians expressing their care and concern for their school and their God.

See You At the Pole!