Entrepreneur answers his higher workplace calling

PLANO, Texas – Like most CEOs, Gil Stricklin keeps close tabs on the numbers, but the figures he cares about don't have dollar signs.

He cares about numbers that involve the nurturing of a person's inner well-being.

The 80-year-old founder of Marketplace Ministries Inc. says 70 percent of U.S. workers don't belong to a church, so that's where Marketplace Ministries steps in.

The 30-year-old nonprofit provides workplace chaplains to companies so their employees and families will have access to voluntary, nondenominational, confidential pastoral services — anytime and just about anywhere. The 24/7/365 service is available for emergencies but also for happy occasions like weddings.

"We're a really humanitarian service," Stricklin says. "Some of it has to do with spirituality, but only at the request of the employee. A lot of people in the workplace don't care that we're religious. They come to us because we can help them with their life's issues."

Every Monday, Stricklin studies a spreadsheet. Last week, it showed that Marketplace added five chaplains and two companies, bringing the totals to 2,755 chaplains dispatched to 635 companies in 1,041 cities, 46 states and six countries.

Marketplace ministers represent 93 denominations. For non-Christians, the service has a resource pool of Muslims, Buddhists, rabbis and other religious advisers.

Members of his Army unit would ask him to visit a loved one in the hospital, perform a wedding, give marriage advice or just listen.

"I thought, 'If this is true for guys and gals in my unit, what about the guy who works at the Exxon service station?' " Stricklin recalls.

In 1983, at 49, Stricklin, who had two sons in college, gave up his job at the Baptist General Convention.

Today the nonprofit has an annual operating budget of $14 million and serves 153,697 employees and 467,300 family members.

Marketplace hired and trained 283 new chaplains this year.