MORE COUNSELING AVAILABLE

GASTONIA - The Greater Gaston Baptist Association is creating a
Christian-based counseling program intended to supplement individual church
counseling programs.

The counselors will come from Surecord, a Winston-Salem company that
specializes in working with churches.

The program is scheduled to begin in June.

The program's services will be open to anyone, though members of churches
that have partnered with the Greater Gaston Baptist Association will
receive discounted rates.

All the rates are based on income, and will range from $20 to $65 per hour,
according to the association.

The company offers individual, couple and family counseling for adolescent
and older clients.

Greater Gaston Baptist Association President Larry McElreath said the
services that Surecord counselors will provide go beyond what some churches
are able to provide.

"Some pastors," he said, "aren't trained to deal with issues like physical
abuse, alcohol abuse or drug abuse. This gives them help."

A similar program with an identical rate structure has been operating at
Bethlehem Baptist Church of Gastonia since March 2001.

The Baptist Association's counseling ministry initially will have two
counselors who will work on Saturdays.

That schedule is expected to expand as the demand for services increases,
McElreath said.

Surecort counselors working at Bethlehem Baptist eventually will leave the
church to become part of the Baptist Association program, said Bethlehem
executive pastor Dale Lawing.

"Moving it over (to the Greater Gaston Baptist Association) will give more
people a better opportunity to participate and get the help they need," he
said.

The association will provide space and scheduling services for the counselors.

Counseling sessions will take place at the Baptist Association offices
until the association's $1 million expansion, which will include a
counseling building, is completed around the first of next year.

The building will be named the Greater Gaston Christian Counseling Center.

The emphasis on Christian counseling is important, McElreath said.

"When you combine (the counselors' training) with their Christian
commitment and their Christian training," he said, "it's a win-win situation."

The Baptist Association has 122 member churches in Gaston, Lincoln,
Cleveland and Mecklenburg counties.