It was a particularly chilly, foggy morning, the kind that makes a person want to stay in bed just a bit longer.

But for the Rev. Greg Laible and company, it was See You at the Pole day — a time to congregate in front of Lehighton High School’s flagpole to join in prayer.“We want people to know we have freedoms we don’t take for granted. People died for this freedom to be able to pray openly in Jesus’ name at the flag,” Laible said. “It’s important, and we want them, when they walk by, to say ‘Wow, they’re praying for me.’ And they might not have the courage at this point to come over, but there’s a lot of hurting kids, and if they see someone praying, it might give them just a little bit of hope. And that’s why we’re here, to give people hope.”See You at the Pole, an event that has been going on around the country since 1990, started with a small group of teenagers in Burleson, Texas.After attending a weekend DiscipleNow event, the students went to three different schools on a Saturday night to pray for their friends, schools and leaders at the flagpoles.This event led to group meetings, which in turn resulted in See You at the Pole’s first prayer session in September 1990.Since then, it has grown to include millions of students congregating at 7 a.m. around school flagpoles across the world in September. This year’s event took place on Wednesday.“It was a good turnout, I think. I’d say it was a pretty good group. I think a lot of times, the most important thing is that people see that we’re praying for them, and they know,” Laible said.A small cluster of attendees from four churches, led by Laible, prayed for the safety and happiness of their fellow community members and more. Unfortunately, due to construction, the group could not pray around the pole itself, but rather on the sidewalk in front of it.“I think having any students come is incredible. It’s hard to be a Christian not only in today’s society, but as a teenager today, so the fact that there are students who are willing to take a stand and make a public declaration that their faith is important is huge,” Rebekka Zeigler, a leader at the Blue Mountain Community Church said.Laible’s daughter, Sarah, was enthusiastic about the event, and said that the prayer session inspired others to learn more about what they saw.“I’m a part of the cross-country team, so sometimes people come up to me and say, ‘Why were you standing there?’ But, it strikes up a conversation where you can share your faith with them,” Sarah Laible said.Pastor Laible has been partaking in See You at the Pole Day for nearly two decades.“I did it as a youth pastor in 1999 in the D.C. area, Northern Virginia. I helped lead there. We had kids praying at the pole there. So the last 18 years, wherever we could, I’ve done it. And now my daughter is doing it with me, so that’s pretty cool. It’s an honor. It’s good for me to encourage these kids because it takes a lot of guts to take a stand. A lot of people wouldn’t do it.”The group clearly enjoyed a special moment in celebrating their faith, along with many other participants across the globe, and looked forward to spreading the word.“It was wonderful, it doesn’t matter how many people we have, or how long we stand here. The goal is to just give God the glory,” Sarah Laible said.In addition to Lehighton, Panther Valley students also took part in the event around the school’s flagpole, the Rev. Jeremy Benack said.