Once a year, hundreds of thousands of college students descend on the beaches of the Southern coast for spring break, but on a debauchery-fueled, booze-filled battleground in South Padre Island, one small group is going to parties to spread the word of God. <\/p>\n
For the past 34 years, Buddy Young has led a Christian ministry called \"Beach Reach\" to the Texas island and notorious spring break hotspot to talk about Jesus. <\/p>\n
\"I'm not on the sin team anymore, I'm not on the party team, but I want to come back and help my party people get to the team they all want to be at,\" Young said. <\/p>\n
And he's not alone. His ministry consists of college-age spring breakers with a much different purpose -- to pray for the partiers. Nate, 23, and his friends drove down to South Padre Island from Michigan, a roughly 30-hour ride. <\/p>\n
\"I've been pretty hammered,\" he said, surveying the crowds. \"I usually don't get this drunk, but it's spring break... this place is out of control.\" <\/p>\n
Watch the full story on \"Nightline\" tonight at 12:35 a.m. ET <\/p>\n
Between flights, hotels, car rentals and other expenses, college students spend an estimated $1 billion to go on spring break, a rite of passage, where there are no rules, only expectations to get drunk, naked and hook up. But sometimes they end up in more trouble than they bargained for. <\/p>\n
Fueled by large amounts of alcohol, and sometimes drugs, these vacations quickly can become dangerous. Almost 2,000 college-age kids die every year from alcohol-related injuries. <\/p>\n
Young said his ministry's biggest goal is to make sure the students have a safe spring break. <\/p>\n
\"We realize students come to spring break and they just want to blow off some steam and have fun,\" he said. \"But in the midst of that, there are tons of safety issues.\" <\/p>\n
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Christian Ministry Hits Beaches With Spring Breakers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once a year, hundreds of thousands of college students descend on the beaches of the Southern coast for spring break, but on a debauchery-fueled, booze-filled battleground in South Padre Island, one small group is going to parties to spread the word of God. For the past 34 years, Buddy Young has led a Christian ministry called \"Beach Reach\" to the Texas island and notorious spring break hotspot to talk about Jesus. \"I'm not on the sin team anymore, I'm not on the party team, but I want to come back and help my party people get to the team they all want to be at,\" Young said Continue reading