{span}Shepherd’s Heart Ministry hosts several events throughout the year, picture above is the annual Order of the Towel event that recognizes Christian Leaders for their lifetime of service to the community.{/span}

With the main objective of ministering to the whole body of Christ, Shepherd’s Heart Ministry will be hosting a Burnout and Depression workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Christian radio station KVNE’s conference room in Tyler.

In addition to pastors, spouses and parachurch ministries, laypersons are also included. Approximately 45 churches will be represented.

With individuals experiencing a lot throughout the world today, Pastor James Dill said the workshop is meant to help with what people may be going through emotionally.

“It’s a lot of dealing with the cares and frustrations that the world is going through. We are establishing the needs of not only pastors but also lately with the congregation and not only to equip them for the ministries but also help them and move on with the needs they are experiencing,” Dill said.

At 23 years old, Dill said he experienced ministry burnout at the first church he was assigned as pastor. He said during that time it seemed like “nobody cared,” which led him to give up the ministry for three years and relocate to Southern California.

To his surprise, a minister traveled over 300 miles to find Dill after finding out about his relocation. Once they both reunited, Dill informed the minister he left the ministry.

“I told him I had gotten out of ministry because I had become upset and bitter at the system,” Dill said.

Dill said the pastor told him he traveled to let Dill know God loved him and to remind him he needed to return to his original calling, which he eventually did.

Dr. Ron Wells, who has a counseling ministry called Centrepoint Ministries, will be the speaker. He has done burnout workshops in areas such as China and Costa Rica.

During the event, there will be four professional counselors people will be connected to if they need further assistance and follow-ups.

The workshop aims to be all-inclusive and will be held in both English and Spanish.

“We will have an interpreter to speak Spanish for our Hispanic friends. We have songs of praise in worship that will be done in Spanish. We want to make everyone that is attending feel like they are very much a part of the event and that’s why we’re going out of our way to make sure everyone is comfortable,” Dill said.

This event has been in the works for more than a year but due to COVID-19 concerns, it was canceled last year.

Dill, along with Shepherd’s Heart Ministry, wants attendees to come out of the event with “hope.”

“We want people to have hope in their lives. We want to offer hope and challenge the people to get into the word of God and find a local church. If there’s a problem, turn to someone. If there’s a challenge in someone’s life, don’t become isolated,” Dill said. “We want people to find the fullness of Christ even in the worst of their life and their worst season.”

“We don’t want the meeting to end there. We want a constant line of connection with that person,” he added.

All events and workshops offered by Shepherd’s Heart Ministry are at no cost to attendees. All of them are designed with pastors, church leadership and active laypersons in mind. The remaining three workshops this year will also continue to be done in both English and Spanish.

The event will be held at 7695 Old Jacksonville Hwy. in Tyler. Registration for future events can be done through the ministry’s website at theshepherdsheart.org on the upcoming events page.