“Bent Tree is a balm that Jesus uses. And as ministers, we're broken too, and we're in a lot of pain, and we're suffering, and very few people are there to come and speak into our lives. So this is a place where other ministers help do that for you.”

"I have been to several conferences and benefited each and every time. The purpose of Bent-Tree is to encourage men that have been called to a difficult job; reaching the lost, equipping (challenging) your flock to serve and tangibly impacting the community where God has established your church. After 37 years in ministry, I thought I did not need new men in my life as I had developed so many profound friendships over the years. But the reality is, through coming to Bent-Tree conferences I now have new friends and new reports of how God is expanding his kingdom through them.

Being physically together for a week enables us to engage each other eyeball to eyeball, face to face. In so doing, we literally see and hear the tears and the stories of our fellow pastors seeking to be faithful to their respective callings. We discover common themes of the joys and sorrows that come with entering deeply into the lives of the people we are called to shepherd. If one makes the commitment to regularly attend we discover over the years that a pastor who is at a good place one year might find himself overwhelmed the next year. The reverse is true as well; a man who was ready to quit the ministry perseveres and finds himself at the most rewarding time in his ministry while the other finds himself bewildered after a year filled with hard providence necessary to correct a faith that found itself coasting when things were going so well."