Milligan and Ground Zero partner for event


Jennifer Soucie,

Copy Editor 

 

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Josiah Potter performs a skit with members of the Milligan theater department during the See You at the Pole Rally Saturday.
Photo by Jason Harville

Over 200 middle school and high school students gathered in Seeger Chapel on Sept. 14 for a See You at the Pole praise and worship pre-rally.

The event was the project between a partnership of Milligan, Youth in Ministry, and Ground Zero.

The evening included an original drama written by Dick Major and performed by Milligan students, praise and worship led by Ground Zero, See You at the Pole videos and guest speaker Kenny White.

White emphasized for students to gather under their school’s flagpoles on Sept. 18 as part of a nationwide prayer gathering. He urged students to pray publicly for the nation and for President Bush and to praise God for free worship in America. White is the senior minister at Christ’s Church at Whitewater in Fayetteville, Ga., and former youth minister of First Christian Church in Johnson City.

Ninth-grader Barry Lindamood of Hunter First Baptist Church, said he plans to meet at his school’s flagpole at Mountain Empire High School in Bristol, Tenn. “It’s going to rock the nation…prayer, students praying…God honors it,” he said.

“It is our goal at Youth in Ministry to increase participation in the See You at the Pole rallies in the area,” Phyllis Fox, director of Youth in Ministry, said. “Through this pre-celebration, we hope to create awareness and build excitement in the area youth.”

Mandee Geiselman, a 13-year old eighth grade student at Science Hill High School, came with her youth group from Southwest Baptist Church in Johnson City to the event.

“I’m learning new things about Jesus, how he sacrificed and died,” she said.

Kristin Land, director of marketing for Ground Zero, said the organization seeks to introduce high school students to Christ and equip them to make a difference.

“We want to be innovative…this is such a media-saturated generation,” she said.

Ground Zero projects that its nightclub for high school students will open in about one year. Club 121 is another student outreach effort by Ground Zero that is currently located on six local high school campuses. Students participate in peer-to-peer evangelism and are led by youth workers.