The Vision of YDI @ Head Waters Lodge

“Loving Jesus and Sharing His Love with Youth Worldwide, Everyday”

“‘If anyone is thirsty let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the scriptures said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living waters’” (John 7:37-38).

YDI History

1949 -     YDI Founder, Jim Vaus, saved at Billy Graham Tent Crusade, rescued from a life in syndicated crime.

1959 –    YDI began with Jim Vaus reaching out to the youth of the inner-city from a storefront building at Hells Gate Station in Harlem, NY. Subsequently, YDI acquired Lake Champion in the wilderness of New York where many teens came to know the love of Jesus. Lake Champion later became a Young Life Camp, while Jim Vaus brought YDI to San Diego, California. While in San Diego, YDI began to reach out to juvenile delinquents, while also launching a nationwide youth crisis telephone hotline.

1988 –    YDI was turned over to Mike MacIntosh and Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego. The team of Mike MacIntosh and Bob Botsford led YDI for the next ten years, continually ministering to the youth.

1995 -     YDI acquired 40 acres in Head Waters, Virginia. Jim and wife Alice Vaus, along with their son, Roger and wife, Lorrie pioneered the work of YDI at Head Waters Lodge – a youth camp and retreat center in the wilderness.

1997 -     Jim Vaus went to be with the Lord at the age of 78 years.

2005 -     Roger Vaus was called home to be with the Lord early in his life (only 49 years old), after ministering to thousands of youth in hundreds of camps and seeing the ministry of YDI Head Waters expand from 40 to 280 acres. The YDI board of directors prayerfully stepped in to see the ministry through this very difficult transition, particularly Terry Clark and Norlyn Kent as interim presidents.

2006 -     Chapin Marsh was appointed president of YDI and Ronny Breen the director at Head Waters Lodge.

Today

• Today the ministry of YDI continues at Head Waters Lodge in Head Waters, Virginia.  Located on over 280 acres in the Allegheny Mountains in the wilderness of Highland County.  The lodge is a 90-bed facility with a large meeting room, dining hall and kitchen to accommodate any group.  YDI ministers to children and adults of all ages in the following areas:  youth groups, schools, home-school groups, worship groups, men’s ministries, women’s ministries, children’s ministries, and pastoral retreats via week-long camps, half-week camps, and weekend camps.
  
  

• The ministry of YDI at Head Waters also provides a hospitality house for ministry leaders to escape to the wilderness and to be still and know that He is God.

Our Mission

The mission of YDI at Head Waters Lodge is to provide living waters to a thirsty generation, with a mission to:

• Win (Rescue)- Rescue today’s youth who are lost and separated from the love of Jesus. 
  
  * Mark 16:15 - "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
  
  
• Disciple (Refresh)- Refresh in hearts a desire to follow and serve Jesus daily.
  
  * Matthew 28:19 - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

• Send (Restore)- Restore souls that are weary by providing a place in the wilderness for spiritual refreshing. 
  
  *Acts 1:8-“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”