The oil and gas industry is full of hard working men and women working long, sometimes dangerous, hours pulling the much needed resources from the earth’s surface. “Black Gold,” some have called it, needed nutrients, but there is another group of equally hard working men and women in today’s oil fields.

From grimy roughnecks to suit-wearing CEOs, Marketplace Chaplains serves all those who are in need in the growing oil and gas industry, and are currently serving a half dozen oil and gas companies and nearly 10,000 employees in North America, along with thousands of their family members as well.

Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Company is one such client company. Hilcorp became the highest ranking oil and gas company in America with a 7th place ranking on the 2013 FORTUNE Magazine’s “Top 100 Best Places to Work” list, thanks in part to a unique partnership with Marketplace Chaplains. Hilcorp uses the employee benefit of corporate chaplains for its 1,000+ employees to extend ‘complete care’ for employees and their family members.

“At Hilcorp, we look for three things in our employees – energy, intelligence and ethics,” said Founder, Chairman and CEO Jeff Hildebrand. “We are very fortunate to have chaplains like Clois Smith and others to care for our employees and family members. Chaplains are a wonderful ministry of help and care for our employees and a meaningful way to be able to help each other. We need this in our company and other companies do as well,” said Hildebrand.

The oil and gas industry has traditionally been based in Texas and the Southwest where many of the energy deposits are located, but Marketplace Chaplains’ work has spread across the border to Canada as well.

Marketplace Chaplains are currently serving Encana, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, and Troyer Ventures, Ltd. in Fort St. John, British Columbia.

“I want to help my employees,” said Steve Troyer, CEO of Troyer Ventures, Ltd. “However, I wanted someone to help me make it deeper, wider and more effective. I’m still the, ‘boss,’ who hires and fires workers so sometimes my people don’t want to talk to me about their personal problems. I’ve found they will talk with a Care Team member, a third party, as an insider, but still an outsider.”

Pioneer Natural Resources’ Vice President, Paul McDonald, said a simple trip on the company elevator proved how much Marketplace Chaplains mean on his rough and tumble business. “I was in the elevator a couple of days ago when one of my employees told me how much she appreciated the fact that we had implemented the chaplain program. Not knowing anything about the issues at hand, I still knew she was being cared for on a personal level. This was not the case prior to Marketplace Chaplains.

“Regardless of title or location, many of our employees are dealing with significant life issues. The power of Marketplace Chaplains is that they are in the people business and therefore they impact both our employees in the field offices as well as the employees in the corporate offices,” he continued.

Pioneer has been ranked as one of the 2nd Best Places to Work in Dallas-Fort Worth among large companies because of their great corporate culture, some of which includes prizes and trips for their employees, but McDonald knows there is something more important. “The significance of Marketplace Chaplains is that we take that extra step in telling people we care about them that transcends a nice trip,” he said.

“In working with our field people, if I don’t hear anything, then everything is working well. They just don’t call or email to give positive feedback; however, Marketplace Chaplains has been the exception,” said Larry Paulsen, Vice President, Administration and Risk Management/Human Resources, with Pioneer Natural Resources, based Irving, Texas.

“This past year I have had at least 10 calls or emails thanking me for making the chaplains available to minister to our people.”

The care for the thousands of men and women in the oil and gas business takes a special chaplain and that is just what Houston- area Chaplain John Yeates brings. Growing up in an oil family (his dad owned his own oil company), he knows exactly what it’s like for the employee and their family members.

“I used to be one of those guys. I worked in that business before, so I certainly know what they are going through.”

Yeates grew up in the West Texas oil capital of Midland, and now lives in the new oil and gas mecca of Houston where he sees the business every day up close and personal.

“You certainly have a wide variety of employees and you just have to be real with those guys. They won’t respond to a real “churchie- type” person, but they will respond to reality,” he continued.

Houston-area Chaplain Ron Burton saw plenty of reality recently when he boarded two barges and tug boats tied up outside of Beaumont in the Gulf of Mexico.

“A lot of those guys are there for 28 straight days, and then off 14, and don’t have anyone to talk to or share with,” he said of his meeting with Martin Marine, part of Marketplace Chaplains newest oil and gas client Martin Resource Management Corporation in Kilgore, Texas.

“A lot of times when we first come into an oil and gas company, they don’t really think they have any need for us and then when oil blows out or something else happens, they see the true need for a caring chaplain,” continued Burton.

The need is even greater for those companies who have taken advantage of the latest oil and gas boom and have found some of the problems that come from that success as well.

“As J-W Energy Company has grown over the past decade from approximately 15 offices in 7 states with 300 employees to over 80 offices throughout 14 states 1,800 employees, our ability as management has become hindered as it pertains to meeting all the needs of our employees,” said Gene Gradick, President of J-W Energy Company.

“With the help of Marketplace Chaplains, our reach is extended through their vast network of chaplains throughout the states that we work in. Someone is literally a phone call away when it comes to serving our employee’s needs. We value our employees and their families, but as we grew it became impossible to know them all and to be able to assist when issues arose and the chaplain service helped us fill that void. With the large number of employees that we have (and their families), the needs can vary anywhere from grief counseling, funerals, weddings or hospital visits. The need is always there and the chaplains deliver,” he continued.

Company CEOs often look for hard data on how the chaplain service is helping their employees and Texon President Terry Looper didn’t have to look far.

“One fact is… we have never had a complaint by one employee over the years with what Marketplace Chaplains say or do at Texon, and obviously we have had many compliments. The chaplains have married some of our employees, along with helping others out of jams. Marketplace Chaplains has been a true blessing to Texon and all the employees,” said Looper.

Dallas Chaplain Charlotte Turner said the wide range of people Marketplace chaplains encounter in the oil business is what makes the program truly effective.

“Whether it’s the District Manager, the rig hand or the inventory clerk, the problems of life come to everyone and when they surface, chaplains can help hurting employees and their families walk through them,” Turner said.

Wood Group Mustang Vice President Corporate Services Don A. Leinweber, never knows for sure what he will be facing when he comes into his Houston office, but has found his partnership with Marketplace Chaplains has made his personal and professional life much easier.

“Wood Group Mustang is engaged in the highly competitive oil and gas industry where people vote with their feet when it comes to where they work. Partnering with Marketplace Chaplains has helped us live up to our “People” core value, fulfilled an employee need to discuss tough issues in a confidential manner, and has been a differentiator for us in our industry,” said Leinweber.

“In times of need, and on routine office visits, the services of Marketplace Chaplains have been called upon to assist our employees through difficult times, or sometimes just to be there to listen. Their services have always been discreet, welcomed, and appreciated by all. Having this unique benefit for our employees differentiates us in the oil and gas industry,” said Leinweber.

Chaplains are there, drilling for the needs, hopes and hurts and offering help to those in the North American oil and gas business.