Thursday, September 25, 2014
Photo
Two students at Victory Christian School in Liberty are linked by a Bible as they pray during a See You at the Pole prayer event Wednesday morning. The prayer event originated with a small group of students in Texas in 1990.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
LIBERTY
The soft voices of kindergarten and first-grade students prayed for their families and friends while ninth- through 12th-graders focused on prayers concerning national and international problems.
The student body at Victory Christian School, 2053 Pleasant Valley Road, participated in the See You at the Pole prayer event Wednesday as part of Global Week of Student Prayer.
Linda Hawes, junior- and senior-high Bible teacher, said students were grouped by classes, each with a prayer focus.
Second- through fourth-graders prayed for churches, schools and salvation for people and seventh- and eighth-graders, missionaries, persecuted Christians and the military.
Fifth- and sixth-graders were on a field trip. Victory Christian, a nondenominational kindergarten-through-12th-grade school, has 89 students.
Colleen McCullough, principal, said VCS has participated in the prayer gathering for years. The event began in 1990 with a small group of students in Burleson, Texas, who attended a DiscipleNow weekend. “I believe the event helps students realize that God is the foundation ... only through him can we work to change our lives,” McCullough said.
Jonathan Creed, a senior, welcomed the group and carried the Christian flag. “Prayer is not an event, but a lifestyle,” he said.
Leading the musical portion were guitarist Emily Creed, ninth grade, and singers Juliet McCowin, 10th grade, and Chantel Bahn, junior.
Also participating were Dorian Kundel, senior, who carried the Bible, and juniors Tyler Beckenbach and Kurt Seifert, pledges.
After the groups completed their prayers, guest speaker U.S. Air Force Maj. Kyle Knell, who is stationed at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, highlighted the theme of the day, “Never Stop Praying.”
The theme comes from Ephesians 6:18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
Knell said the directive to “pray always” is a challenge because there are so many distractions in people’s lives. But, he noted, praying is a way to know God better and that should be the goal.
He explained that supplication means “bringing our requests to God.” “We have many needs in life,” he said, “but no problem is too big for God.”
Knell told the students that when they “pray in God’s spirit, the spirit of God dwells in you.”
For senior Rachel Appell, who prayed about world issues, prayer is “turning to God and being in his presence.”
Pairus Knepper, also a senior, noted that “prayer is a way to have a relationship with God.”
Senior Olivia Smith added that “prayer is the best way to talk to God ... and tell him what’s on your heart.
For information on See You at the Pole, visit www.syatp.com.