Lamplight Global University chooses not to be accredited with the government, but to be a comprehensive individualized preparation for Christian ministry.

Equipping people to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" Psalm 119:105 NKJV

United States of America

Judy Ann Vail, Lamplight Ministries Founder & President

Judy is a graduate of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Crossroads Mission Training, where the goal is to know Jesus Christ and to make Him known. Lamplight Ministries, Inc. exists to take God’s message of love in Christ Jesus across the world, especially to nations where the spread of the gospel is outlawed.

With a Master’s Degree in Secondary Reading, Judy taught in both public and Christian schools. To this day, she uses her skills to deliver the Word of God to hungry hearts.

Judy was a founder and director of Ladder Creek Youth Ranch (Omega Ranch) in Scott City, Kansas,  where over a hundred young people came to the horse camp each week for free, and the counselors trusted God for their finances. Judy is also a John Lyons certified natural horse trainer and is a Level 3-4 in Parelli Natural Horsemanship.  She delights in riding horses, tennis, kayaking, and organic gardening.

Life verse: “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

  • Born: May 22, 1939 Pasadena, California
  • Born loving God, I just did; active in church, loved God but did not know Jesus Christ in an interactive way. I grew up in a prosperous town, where we had the best life has to offer in education and life’s blessings and learned a social gospel; we were here to make the world a better place and had the means and the opportunity to do so. I somehow missed understanding that Jesus came to save me. It sounds so strange. How could I miss it, but I did.
  • At age 27 I learned that I needed to truly acknowledge that I was a sinner and needed my Savior; for three months I declared Jesus as my Savior, but did not have an awareness of it. Then, one morning, I woke up and I knew Jesus Christ was and is my Savior and I have known Him personally and vibrantly every day since that day. I had no clue how to witness about my faith for three years.
  • At age 30 I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that resulted in my speaking of Jesus Christ to everyone I meet, a holy boldness, from that day to this one. Ask anyone who knows me!
  • A passion to spread the gospel locally, nationally and in every nation is a fire within me.
  • College: University of Redlands, Redlands CA Majored in Elementary Education Graduated: 1961
  • Taught elementary school and remedial reading 13 years, including one year as a principal of a small Christian school
  • Founder/Director Ladder Creek Youth Ranch/Omega Ranch, Scott City, KS 1970-1975 (Christian horse camp free of charge, where we believed God for our finances to operate the camp)
  • Superintendent of Sunday Schools: 1976
  • Graduate School: University of Northern Colorado; Secondary Reading: 1986
  • Attended Bible schools in Colorado, Florida
  • Crossroads Bible Training School/Youth with a Mission (YWAM): Concord, NH Grad: 1988
  • Mission trips to Guatemala, Romania, Taiwan/China, Costa Rica, India (7 times)
  • Certified John Lyons Natural Horse Training: 2001
  • Level 3/4 Parelli Natural Horsemanship 2002-present
  • Founder/President of Lamplight Ministries, Inc., established in 1991-present (Debt free since its inception)
  • Jack and I spent 30 years writing, publishing, and distributing world-wide Bible-based topical books, a total of 32 books and sending them to the nations free of charge.
  • We became mentors to pastors in many nations; those pastors are now heading Lamplight Global University for their nations (Indonesia, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, India)
  • We spent five years writing ten sets of Scripture cards by topic; we are now republishing these cards as books
  • Husband, Jack, went peacefully into the presence of the Lord in September 2019
  • December 31, 2021 married Jan Lee Vail, a world-renowned architect and hometown classmate since the 7th grade (San Marino, CA)(God brought us together at our 64th high school class reunion as we discovered that I was building a church and high school in Uganda and he had already built both there! God had further plans! We completed Lamplight Senior Secondary School in Uganda in 2023, now with 85 students!)
  • Established Lamplight Global University: 2023 (To provide ministry training for pastors and leaders in developing nations as well as to provide discipleship training for everyone)
  • Present goal: to live on as little as possible; to give as much as possible.
    I have been personally debt free since 2003. We are at the stage of eliminating things rather than accumulating things.
  • I have a raised, organic, square foot garden and have an intense interest in seeing people provide produce for their own households.
  • Our plan is to work through Lamplight Global University, a division of Lamplight Ministries, Inc. to provide the translation and printing of the Lamplight books that are required reading for all our university degrees. We will provide the rent, salaries, and school supplies and often transportation and meals for students, as well. Goal: anointed, equipped disciples of Jesus Christ.
  • Our ultimate aim for each country where we have a local pastor is to build an entire self-supporting community with: produce gardens; elementary school; high school; training for jobs (computer, sewing, mechanic, construction, electronics, agriculture, solar energy, water desalination and purification etc.); orphanage; home for the elderly; hospital and clinic; cooking school and food preparation; the arts (music and dance); exercise activities, such as soccer, swimming, tennis, golf, hiking. Every aspect is centered on growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.