For almost three weeks now, my son Ken and I have been traveling, meeting, speaking, and holding conferences with recovery folks in California.
The audience reception has been heart-warming.
Here is a brief report of our work so far:
1. Spoke at The James Club Fellowships of Southern California in Covina and reviewed the Christian origins of Alcoholics Anonymous.
2. Met with benefactor Charles P. Mau in Newport Beach shortly prior to his recent death.
3. Met with Pastor Mike Belzman, President of Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors Institute to discuss forthcoming conference in Palm Springs and discuss growth potential of the organization itself.
4. Met with Larry Webb and his wife. Larry is the organizer of the first Big Book/Good Book Study Group and had many suggestions on how to facilitate and
simplify our presentations of the recovery movement Christian potential today.
5. Met with Jerry McDonald of Betty Ford Center to review and plan our talk at the Awareness Program at Betty Ford next February
6. Spoke at a very large meeting of Lifelines at The Crossing Church in Costa Mesa. The topic was the Origins and History of the Christian Recovery Movement.
7. On to Escondido where we spoke to a Big Book/Bible oriented recovery group.
8. Next night in Carlsbad, spoke to an A.A. group on the topic "Stick with the Winners"--particularly as A.A. sprang from the work of Dr. Bob, Prince of All Twelfth Steppers, and the 5000 he helped without pay in Akron; and the tremendous growth and new program introduced in Cleveland by Clarence Snyder and the 93% success rate, growth from one group to 30 in a year, and Clarence's bringing from Akron the Bible and the Four Absolutes and incorporating the newly published Big Book and Twelve Steps.
9. Two days later, spoke to a very large A.A. meeting in Carlsbad, emphasizing the applicability of "old school" A.A. to the A.A. program and its abc's today.
10. Back to Huntington Beach and His Place Church where David Roman's Roman Cucina Restaurants provided the food, noted combo of David Paulsen provided the music, Roger M. presided, and we spoke of the early A.A. program.
11. Highly successful meeting with City Team leaders in San Jose where a new way of
training the leaders was used. We would speak for 35 minutes, the leaders would discuss that segment, they would report to the group, and we would proceed to the next topic. The audience participation and apprehension was absolutely great. And this procedure planned by training leader Wade Hess will be used widely by us hereafter where appropriate.
12. Successful meeting at the Turning Point Fellowship in Livermore where emphasis was placed on our new "Introductory Foundations for Christian Recovery" Class, our The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., and the need for a Stick with the Winners guide to taking the steps and incorporating our history and Bible roots in the process.
13. Next nite, an excellent meeting on our history at Church of the Nazarene in Auburn.
Results so far:
1. Continued growth of A.A. Friendly, Bible Friendly, History Friendly groups among AAs, NAs, church recovery workers, treatment programs, Christian counselors, and leadership groups in California--a real inspiration for other groups in California and Hawaii and elsewhere.
2. The importance of using our three main tools to train the trainers: (1) Introductory Foundations for Christian Recovery class. (2) Use of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed by leaders and groups. (3) Development of a short guide to "Stick with the Winners" to be used in Step Work, History Work, and Fellowships.
3. Urging recovery groups--AA, NA, Christian, Church, and others to establish once-a-week Leadership Training and Conference Meetings where Leaders can learn, understand, and guide those in recovery in an A.A. Friendly, Bible Friendly, History Friendly approach to recovery.
4. Enlarging area cooperation and contacts among the many leaders we have encountered.
Onward and upward with the last leg--Oroville, California tonight; Chico, California tonight; Brentwood, California Friday; Maui return on Saturday.
Aloha and God Bless, Dick B.
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