The arrival of summer means a season of recreation and relaxation for most high school and college students. Most, but not all.

This summer, almost 60 students are ministering in 18 mission projects across the Golden State, mostly assisting with Vacation Bible Schools in rural areas, going from church to church, helping those that are understaffed.

Not all the students minister in rural areas. Some are at work in major cities, too. Others assist in summer youth camps and with other Southern Baptist association projects, said Charles McClung, California Southern Baptist Convention’s ministry evangelism specialist.

“The students give a boost to the adults in churches where they serve, as well as to the youth,” he added. “They bring enthusiasm and energy that can revitalize a youth group and also show older adults that God is at work in the younger generation. They also help fulfill the Great Commission as they reach children, teens and their families with the gospel.”

The students are an extension and expression of the hearts of all California Southern Baptists who support summer missions ministry through the California Mission Offering, whose theme this year is, “Reaching the World in California: The Great Commission Begins Here.”

Not only do these short-term servants reach others – sometimes God reaches the summer missionaries themselves, calling them to give their lives to long-term missions as they eventually become career missionaries.

“God confirmed his call to career missions in the heart of one of our summer missionaries a few years ago,” McClung recalled. The young man attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, and is now a church planter in one of the world’s most troubled Muslim countries, he added.

Perhaps one of the best-known summer missionaries to California Southern Baptists is Debbie Wohler. Thirty years ago she came from the plains of Indiana to serve for a summer in Lake Tahoe. Today, she is still ministering there as a resort missionary for the North American Mission Board, and continuously utilizes the ministry efforts of summer missionaries.

“The day I got here, it felt like I had come home,” Wohler said. “That first summer changed my life. God put this place and this type of people in my heart. I understand those who want to play and enjoy creation and push themselves athletically,” said Wohler, who majored in physical education.

More than 12 million people – many from other countries – visit Tahoe annually, making it one of the most popular travel destinations in the world.

“In a place this beautiful, it’s easy for people to relax, abandon their routines and then begin to ask themselves, ‘Who made all this?’ My answer to them,” Wohler said, “is God made all this, and His Son, Jesus Christ, loves you.”

Not only do Wohler and her summer missionaries minister to tourists, they minster to locals as well. On Sundays, students lead church services at six resort areas; other ministries include child care that offers Christian direction and biblical instruction.

“God has laid children on my heart,” said Wohler, whose ministries touch almost 100 kids every day. “About 80 percent of the kids in these programs don’t go to church, and without the summer missionaries, many of the children would never hear about Jesus Christ.”

One child was accustomed to hearing the Lord’s name frequently, but in a much different context. The child’s parents told Wohler he had said his caregivers “were sure cussing a lot.” But upon deeper inquiry, Wohler discovered the child had told his parents that he kept hearing people say, “`Jesus Christ’ this and `Jesus Christ’ that.”

“It’s my heart and my passion. These children need somebody in their lives because there’s so much brokenness there,” she said. “They need someone stable in their lives – someone other than me – and that is Jesus Christ.”