WORKPLACE CHAPLAINS LEND SYMPATHETIC EAR.

Byline: Dave Schleck Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Wearing a matching maroon jacket and sports cap, Dan Story weaved his way through scores of casually clad tourists as they tried to find a game that matched their skill at Busch Gardens' German festival area.

Over the sound of rolling skee balls and bursting balloons, Story greeted every game attendant who wasn't busy passing out change or handing oversize stuffed animals to game winners.

``It's hard to meet everyone in the whole park,'' said Story, one of five volunteer chaplains trying to befriend the 3,200-employee work force at the theme park. ``This is a big place.''

Story is one of hundreds of chaplains around the country who are expanding their mission fields to include industrial plants and white-collar offices.

Chaplains can be found shaking hands with assembly line workers at the Maida Development electronic components plant in Phoebus, Va., or chatting with employees at the Virginia Employment Commission office in Newport News, or even ministering to workers at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Williamsburg.

These chaplains don't work for the companies they visit. They are unpaid volunteers trained by the Hampton Roads chapter of Industrial and Commercial Ministries - or ICM, a nonprofit organization that has about 22 chaplains working in 12 public agencies and businesses on the Virginia Peninsula.

Story, a 67-year-old retired Naval officer who has volunteered at Busch Gardens for about a year, said religion is not a typical conversation topic when he visits the park's employees about once a week. He simply says hello and asks them how they're doing.

Most conversations are casual chats about the weather or the pace of business. But occasionally, someone will want to talk about personal problems they're having at home or at work, said Story, adding that he only talks about religion when an employee brings up the topic.

``If you let people talk enough, they'll solve their own problems,'' said Story, who became a chaplain after hearing about ICM through his church.

Twice a year, ICM's local chapter holds a two-day training workshop for new chaplains in which they learn how to address a variety of work-related problems, such as employee drug abuse, disputes between trade unions and employers, and sexual harassment.

Chaplains are not certified therapists. If an employee has a problem that requires professional help, chaplains are trained to refer that employee to therapists and other resources in the community.

Other programs include Marketplace Ministries - headquartered in Dallas - which has about 300 chaplains working in 142 companies in 29 states. And there's the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, based in Alpharetta, Ga., which has about 2,500 active chaplains around the country - about 300 working in business or industrial settings.

Chaplains add a personal dimension to many employee assistance programs, according to Art Stricklin, director of ministry relations for Marketplace Ministries. When a crisis hits, many employees would rather talk to a chaplain they're familiar with, rather than call the toll-free ``hot lines'' that many employee assistance programs use to refer workers needing professional help, Stricklin said. ``That's why our chaplains visit on a regular basis,'' Stricklin said. ``It's because when there is a crisis, the employees won't be turning to a stranger. They'll be turning to someone they talked (with) about fishing or the Redskins game last week.''

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Photo: ``If you let people talk enough, they'll solve their own problems,'' said Dan Story, one of five volunteer chaplains who tend to the 3,200 employees at Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, Va.

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service