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'My father was a gangster'
Son writes tribute to father
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | Author Will Vaus |
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MONTEREY - Jim Vaus found Jesus in 1949. Not that Jesus wasn't around for him: Vaus grew up the son of a Baptist minister. It's just that he wasn't looking for Christianity to consume his life.
His story of corruption and redemption is lovingly retold by his youngest son, Will, in the biography, "My Father was a Gangster," published by Believe Books of Washington, D.C.
Will is president of Will Vaus Ministries, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and the author of "Mere Theology: A Guide to the Thought of C.S. Lewis."
Vaus doesn't leave out the hardships and mistakes of his father's life, even after conversion, but tells the story as it occurred, from his father's birth in 1919, his youth in California, army service, crime connections, through conversion to Christianity in 1949 and founding of a ministry aimed at helping young people avoid the mistakes he made.
Jim Vaus was expelled from a Bible institute for stealing yearbook money. He went to jail for a year for armed robbery. Though it was easy for him to get into trouble, he seemed to have a knack for getting out of trouble as well.
When World War II began, Vaus was drafted and became an Army officer. He also obtained a stateside assignment. His earlier fascination with radios and electronics helped him, since he was involved in the use of electronics to target weapons and radar. Unfortunately, he was later sent to prison for misappropriation of government property.
He was smart enough to find and marry a woman who would remain with him for the rest of his life, but not smart enough to avoid associating with those involved in organized crime. He used his knowledge of electronics to benefit criminals. He could wiretap private telephone conversations for money.
Working for criminals nearly got him killed. He was supposed to go to St. Louis to help a criminal business-partner, but missed the appointment after his Christian conversion experience put his life on a different course. He found out later a death squad had been waiting for him in St. Louis.
Vaus' actions did not match his ideals. He was living two lives - one with his wife and family, another with organized crime.
In November 1949, Vaus met evangelist Billy Graham, and his life was transformed. He was still witty, intelligent and looking for ways to get ahead. But instead of getting ahead in the crime world, he devoted himself to Jesus. Though Vaus was a nominal Christian before, he didn't fully accept the teachings of Christ until he met Graham. His internal transformation reflected in a change in outward behavior.
Vaus writes, "He had believed in God, and Jesus as God's Son, for all of his remembered life. Wasn't that nominal belief enough? Something in (Billy) Graham's words, and in his own experience, convinced my father it wasn't enough."
"For the first time in his life Dad felt the 'infinite abyss' inside him being filled with the 'infinite and immutable' Spirit of God," Vaus writes.
Vaus' biography is a tale of one success after another following his conversion and during the remainder of his life.
Service to God had its trials, however. Vaus was often gone from home to tend to his many speaking obligations and ministerial duties, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves.
He was not immune from personal tragedies just because of his faith in Jesus. One daughter died in infancy. Jim contracted polio and later Parkinson's disease. He also became a diabetic.
There were times, especially in the early years of his ministry, that the Vauses had little money and lived from day to day. But the success of his ministry eased financial worries, if not the demands on his time.
During the 1950s, when Vaus was a traveling preacher, his messages bordered on being judgmental, says Will. But that would change in Harlem.
"I think Dad's experience in New York made him much more tolerant of many different lifestyles while still holding on to the essentials of the Gospel," he writes.
He came to understand alcoholism or drug addiction as partially due to illness and the victims in need of psychological, as well as spiritual, help.
Youth Development Inc. formed in June 1959 and ministered to the youth of Harlem. "Its mission was the promotion of the 'physical, social, cultural and spiritual welfare of urban youth, the development of a vital godliness and a moral conscience among them, and the establishment and maintenance of a witness, to urban youth and others, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.'
"In short, Harlem taught my father to deal with the whole person in ministry: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual," says Vaus. "YDI evolved four basic thrusts: health and recreation to meet physical needs, guidance and counseling to meet emotional needs, remedial and tutorial education to meet intellectual needs, evangelism and Bible study to meet spiritual needs."
While Graham's crusades for Christ became legendary in their size and outreach, Vaus' ministry concentrated on individuals and blended quietly into the background of modern evangelism.
"My father became much more concerned with the individual and making sure that individual was grounded and growing in Christ in all dimensions of life," Vaus says.
The Jim Vaus story has a Highland County connection, as well. In 1995, Vaus moved to Head Wa- ters and took over the property previously owned by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
Vaus converted the Head Waters retreat into a YDI camp, similar to ones he had established in New York and California. The camp is still in operation.
Vaus writes that the day after Thanksgiving 1997, "Mom came into the hospital, Dad looked at her and said, 'I've asked the Lord to take me home.'"
He died soon after. "I have often thought about what my father's legacy is," Vaus says. "I believe Dad's legacy is simply this: that he passed on to others what he himself had received. That night in the revival tent, he received from the Lord Jesus Christ love, forgiveness of sins and fullness of life. My father then spent the rest of his life trying to fill the emptiness of others with that same fullness of God."
Will Vaus' ministry is one of preaching, teaching and writing. Vaus is working on several other books. He lives in Monterey with his wife, Becky, and three sons, James, Jonathan and Joshua.
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