.jpg)
Angel was a teenager in Carson City, Nevada when she prayed for her school. She recalls See You at the Pole during her teen years as a significant milestone in her spiritual life. Now, she's taking her excitement overseas.
Angel married a Norwegian man and now serves in a Foursquare church as a volunteer youth leader in the southern Norway city of Kristiansand. Angel is mentoring a student in her youth group who is a junior at one of several public high schools in the city (see some of them in the photo, right). God has given them a burden to see SYATP spread across the entire nation of Norway.
Although the protégé is also an American, they are relating closely with Norwegian nationals at the school to promote school-wide participation in See You at the Pole on September 22.
The cool thing is that Norwegian public schools have a mandatory "club" in every school that is essentially and officially Christian, Angel told us. The club is called "team" in English. So the potential for SYATP - with a unique Norwegian DNA - to spread virally across the city and nation from "Cathedral High School" ("Kristiansand Katedralskole Gimle") is enhanced by this structure that God has allowed to be part of their system.
Angel invites her praying American brothers and sisters to intercede for the movement in Norway.
In the United States, although there are no officially sanctioned religious clubs in our public schools, the Federal Department of Education has said that See You at the Pole is an "appropriate expression" of religious freedom and free speech rights for students. It might surprise you to know that the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) was just one of the many diverse groups that added their endorsement to that statement back in 1995. So SYATP is a "protected" activity for Christian students.
The fact remains: it still often takes a youth pastor to encourage students in his or her youth group to take advantage of this opportunity to launch the school year in prayer. For more information and free resources for See You at the Pole, go to www.syatp.com. Encourage your leaders to not only pray, but to share their stories and pictures after the prayer time.
For the latest, go to the SYATP website, or visit SYATP on Facebook. How about adding the FB link to your own page and encouraging your students to do the same?
See You at the Pole is September 22 this year. The theme for 2010 is "REVEAL," taken from the Lord's Prayer.