Once every year, students from around the world get up early in the morning to stand around the flag pole of their schools to pray. It’s an amazing symbolic event. It encourages and binds together the Christians. It leaves to revival. I wish.

I’m going to go ahead and say it. I think that See You at the Pole is really STUPID!

I’m sorry, call me the youth ministry cynic, but I’ve never really seen the point of this event. I’m glad students can nominally stand for their faith once a year for ten minutes. It shows nothing. It proves nothing. It just makes us feel warm and fuzzy as Christians. “They can pray and stand for my faith on this day,” some may say. “Do they pray any other day?” I say.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men… Matthew 6:5

Did the other students know these youth were a Christian before they stood praying in the morning? If not, then they are not living for Christ and a showy morning of prayer won’t change that. “But God can use this event,” you may say. Yes, but God can use anything. He’s God, that’s why. I could fart and lead someone to Christ. That’s not the point.

We’re teaching our kids to have a shallow and hollow faith. A once a year show means nothing. It takes real courage to live out your faith daily, not on an annual basis. In youth ministry, I’m afraid, we teach our youth that their faith comes in emotional, event size bites, not a step by step journey. I don’t care if they can stand for a morning. I want to see them walk it out for the rest of their lives.

Tell me I wrong…