Copperas Cove students gather for annual See You at the Pole

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

Dozens of students gathered in the hour before school started Wednesday morning outside Copperas Cove High School to pray as part of the global day of prayer known as See You At The Pole. 
Peter Simpson, the youth minister and missions coordinator at First Baptist Church, has been bringing donuts and beverages to See You At The Pole at Copperas Cove High School for at least 10 years now. He said he keeps coming back each year to be an encouraging presence for the students. 
“I work with youth at First Baptist, so I’m just happy that kids are out here celebrating the Lord and just want to encourage them to be strong and standing their faith,” Simpson said. 
He said that See You At The Pole serves as a good time for the students to just pause before the school day and to pray and worship. 
“It’s great to live in a country that we can do this,” Simpson said. “Everybody can’t do it everywhere, and especially now, we see people in countries are under threat of different things if they express their faith, and so it’s great to live in a country where we can express our faith and not be afraid.”
Caleb Newberry, a senior, led the reading of scripture and prayer at Wednesday morning’s gathering. Newberry said he has been participating in See You At The Pole since junior high.
 “Because one, how I was raised, and I started to turn away a little bit but in the past couple years, I’ve been reading through the Scriptures, searching in myself, and I can see that the promises are real because they’re changing my desires and who I am and I just want other people to be able to find that same relationship,” Newberry said. 
He said that it meant a lot to be able to take part and lead the reading this year. 
“Just an opportunity to share my faith and be able to interact and touch other people to make a relationship with them so that they can come to faith as well, so it meant a lot,” Newberry said. 
Newberry also led a Bible study and prayer among his fellow football players at 6:15 each morning last year during football season, before practice.  
After graduation, Newberry hopes to go into a career of ministry to “serve the Lord and spread the message of the gospel to John, and to the people in the church.”
Aleczander Patterson, also a senior, has plans to get his doctorate degree and go into the healthcare field. He is a player on the high school football team, and he is also one who helps encourage his fellow players on their path to finding faith. Like Mayberry, he has been participating in See You At The Pole since junior high. He credited his faith to his parents and growing up attending church and finding other people through church. 
“It’s like a family, you know, getting other people in, like the rest of the team, and just trying to get them closer to the Lord,” Patterson said. 
See You At The Pole began in 1990 as a grass roots movement with ten students praying at their school in Burleson, Texas. More than 20 years later, millions pray on their campuses across the world on the fourth Wednesday in September. The event is student-initiated, student-organized and student-led, with some teachers and outside community members present in support of the students.