THE OAKS Staff

Paul and Carole Meitler

Dear Friends and Family,

As many of you know, our family is on an exciting journey as God has called us to love the poor of the urban inner city.  God confirmed His calling for us to serve with World Impact at the Oaks Camp in Lake Hughes, CA! We wanted to tell you about our journey and the opportunities for how you can join us in ministry.

Our Journey
We had been wrestling with what God wanted us to do with the “few remaining years of our lives”. Should I continue working in business management or was God calling us into ministry? As we pursued God’s direction, He faithfully provided answers. For example, in 2007 Katelyn and I went to Guatemala with our church where we shared the gospel and witnessed to people. As I walked down a Guatemalan dirt road, I laid my dependence on this world’s goods at God’s feet and his peace that passes all understanding embraced me as never before. Carole and I knew that God was taking us in a new direction. Then, in February 2008 God moved us to sell our house and we continued to investigate various options.
Through our investigation and volunteer service, God led us to World Impact. By volunteering at inner city kid’s and family camps at The Oaks, we learned about inner city church planting and how people’s lives are being changed. We met inner city kids who’s lives were transformed because of World Impact missionaries. We met many amazing people who have dedicated their lives to the inner city urban poor.

World Impact
World Impact serves in 11 inner cities of the United States and also runs TUMI (The Urban Ministry Institute) with over 65 satellites providing seminary level training focused specifically on training for urban pastors and church planters. In LA county where a murder happened every 28 hours in 2008, World Impact missionaries commit to loving and serving where most are interested in “avoiding” or “getting out”. It’s hard to imagine the needs our inner city neighbors live with. One small example was the reply given by a small boy at camp when he was asked why he was putting rolls in his pockets – he didn’t think he was going to have anything else to eat the rest of the day!

Our Vision
At The Oaks, we’ll be supporting the inner city church plant efforts of World Impact by planning camps for kids and families, discipling inner city youth leadership, and running special projects to enable more effective ministry. At The Oaks, our entire family can serve, which we feel is so important, not just “Dad going to work” at a new job. Our kids can work hand in hand with other missionaries helping run camp programs and also serve in the inner city with church planters, at the Christian school, or at the new youth center. An example of a challenge we can take on is (which we are VERY excited about!) is building a volunteer program for families and groups to server in the inner city or at The Oaks. Every time we’ve involved families in the past, without fail, God touched peoples hearts and these families returned excited to minister back in their home churches and communities.