A higher grounding

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SAN DIEGO -- A procession of good-looking, suntanned young men in wet suits, surfboards in hand, heads to and from the beach all day long.

They've got names like Jeremiah and Ben, and most are on the surfing team of Point Loma Nazarene University. Their home base is the beige dorm perched on a cliff on the western edge of the oceanside campus.

Call them surfers for Jesus.

Not many years ago, Christian colleges like Point Loma had a reputation for being little more than glorified Bible schools, essentially dull training grounds for future missionaries and pastors.

They were places where guys' hair was kept short and girls' skirts stayed long. Smoking, drinking, dancing and just about any kind of high jinks earned a quick detention or a trip back home to Mom and Dad.

Today, Christian colleges are outfitted with gleaming glass buildings, modern science departments and, often, a more worldly joie de vivre.

The surfers of Point Loma embody a secret in U.S. college admissions: the growth industry in evangelical Protestant and conservative Catholic schools.

"If people are going to spend money sending their kids to a college, they want one with a mission," says Shirley Mullen, provost at Westmont College, a high-end evangelical school in Santa Barbara, Calif.