In February 2015, the Lord released Chresten and Bridgette Tomlin to launch a ministry that had already been over 15 years in the making, a ministry for ministry wives. “Even as very young evangelists, sitting to table with ministry families each week in our travels, we recognized: something needs to be provided for these women who are married and in ministry alongside their husbands. I could feel the pull, even as a rookie ministry wife myself, from these women who were giving their lives to serve others. They needed friendship, they craved community, and they definitely needed some rest!” remarked Sanctuary founder Bridgette Tomlin. And in late 2014, the Lord gave the ‘green light’ to create a safe place for ministry wives to retreat, connect, soak in God’s presence, and get a few nights of good sleep.

That first two-day, two-night retreat was the ground floor for what has now become a safe haven for thousands of ministry wives called Sanctuary. While Sanctuary has evolved through the past decade to include quarterly connect nights where ministry wives meet up with one another in their communities to enjoy fellowship and find friendship, as well as four seasons of a podcast, a deep blog archive, and so much more, Let’s Retreat has continued to embody the fullness of what Sanctuary was always designed to be.

10 years culminated into the BEST LET’S RETREAT EVER—Let’s Retreat ‘25–hosted November 4-6, 2025 at Gathering Oaks Retreat, just outside of Waco, Texas. We continue to hear feedback from each of our guests, from the host team members, from our featured guest speaker Martha Tennison—God met us at Gathering Oaks Retreat in such a supernatural way that words don’t seem adequate to describe it. Lives were changed, challenged, refreshed, and recharged. And the families + ministries represented by each guest will be the beneficiaries of time well-spent, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Over the past year, God has been stirring in the hearts of Chresten and Bridgette once again, challenging them to ‘enlarge their territory’. This will require picking up the tent pegs at a venue dearly loved over the past eight years to move and expand to a mini-conference model in Branson, Missouri, for September 2026. More details about Let’s Gather, a mini-conference for ministry wives, are set to release in the next few months. Much prayer is going into the foundation of this new venture, one that will echo the beloved elements of a Sanctuary Let’s Retreat while making room for a few additional guests to partake. “A combination of REST and REVIVAL will make this conference a unique hybrid of all that our guests have come to expect from Sanctuary. I plan to spoil these girls, make room for them to rest and rejuvenate, and yet provide plenty of opportunities to pour into them, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the featured Guest!” boasts Bridgette, the Let’s Gather host.

Learn more about Sanctuary by visiting the ministry site here.