Daily prayer is nothing new to the staff and students at Lakeland Christian Academy, but this morning, Wednesday, Sept. 23, was different.

Staff, students, parents and community members gathered outside the school at 7:30 a.m. to pray and worship around the flagpoles. The morning was a special time of prayer and worship music led by the Student Worship Arts Team.

The annual event was started in 1990 with 10 kids from Burleston, Texas. They wanted to pray for public schools in their community. What they did was go to the flagpoles at each of the three different schools and prayed. Today, more than 3 million in 20 different countries participate in this yearly event.

LCA has participated in “See You At The Pole” since 2000, with many other schools — public and private — participating before school hours, praying for its students, the community, county, state and nation. Special prayers were offered to the families of those suffering from the loss of teenagers in the community/area from suicide.

Following small group prayer circles, those attending gathered in a large circle around the flagpoles for a time of prayer. The S.W.A.T. group then celebrated the morning leading worship music including: “Blessed Be Your Name,” “Amazing Love” and “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us,” before moving inside for the bi-monthly Wednesday chapel services.