ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Student Life, one of the nation’s largest Christian ministries targeted at teens, is opening a worship center at The Wharf and will be hosting summer mission camps in Orange Beach through 2013.

The group first visited Orange Beach last year and some minor traffic issues were recognized. Now the Orange Beach police department is gearing up to handle the large summer crowd at least for the next five years.

“They have contracted with The Wharf through the next five years, and we can expect quite a few kids in Orange Beach during the summer months,” said Orange Beach Police Lt. Gina Long-Lee. “July 14-18 there will be 2,100 individuals with Student Life coming to Orange Beach. During the second week of June there are 38 to 40 buses of kids coming in. That’s a huge amount of people coming at once.”

Student Life will be hosting events at The Wharf, on the beach, and the students will be lodging in various condos throughout the area.

The Orange Beach Police department is preparing to handle any possible traffic and safety issues and making sure that each Student Life event throughout the summer runs smoothly from a safety standpoint, both for the participants and for the citizens who reside here.

“This is already a large group and with a five year contract, we can assume that the number of people who come down will increase every year,” Long-Lee said.

Next week, in addition to the Student Life group, a large group of teens from Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas will be in town also.

Student Life, based in Birmingham, began in 1993 by Randy and Valerie Hall who had spent 14 years as youth ministers in local churches. They work to provide students with ministry events, Bible studies, mission opportunities and ministry resources.

The first Student Life Camp was represented by six churches and 400 students.

In 1997 Student Life Conferences began, followed by Student Life for Kids in 2000 and in 2003, Student Life at the Beach was born.

In the past, Student Life has held summer conferences in Destin, Fla. but Long-Lee said that it appears they want to now make Orange Beach their summer home.