The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 4th Edition, by Dick B. & Ken B.,

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 4th Edition, by Dick B. & Ken B.,
Is Nearly Ready to Go to Press

By Dick B.
© 2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Previous editions of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, by Dick B. and Ken B. have been widely distributed over the last two-and-a-half years. They have been sold directly from our main Web site, www.DickB.com. They have been sold as part of our “Christian Recovery Resource Centers and Persons” package: http://mcaf.ee/6df53. They have been displayed, distributed, given away, or sold at our recent North American Summit Conference Meetings of the International Christian Recovery Coalition on September 17, 2011, in Costa Mesa, California, and on September 24, 2011, in Brentwood, California. And the first three editions of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide were intended to bring together in one place considerable Christian Recovery resources for the newcomer, the sponsor, the Christian recovery leader or pastor, A.A. Study Groups, Bible study groups, and the many Christian Recovery Fellowships now springing up or already organized.

The fourth edition, which we have substantially revised and expanded, is now well on its way to completion. We plan on releasing it in both Print-On-Demand and eBook format and distributing it widely within the Christian Recovery arena. The reasons for this new edition are numerous:

1. We want an updated, single, Christian Recovery resource guide for leaders, students, and newcomers, that brings together in comprehensive but summary form many things of the key things we have learned and published and spoken about over the last 21 years.

2. There have been many Christians and AAs coming on board, and there has been much acquisition of biblical tools, as well as A.A. history documents, books and manuscripts that disclose all aspects of the Christian Recovery Movement and the original Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” program which developed from it.

3. A number of books—many published or reprinted recently--are now available to help illustrate the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in A.A.'s origins, history, founding, original program, and success:

 Bill Wilson’s own autobiography, Bill W.: My First Forty Years, published by Hazelden (http://goo.gl/32YdQ).

 Dover Publications' Alcoholics Anonymous: The Original 1939 Edition with all of the original personal stories included in the first edition and a 23-page introduction by Dick B. (http://goo.gl/nTzl1)

 Hazelden Publishing’s October 2010 publication, The Book That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous, which contains very high quality scans of the pages of the original “printer’s manuscript” of Alcoholics Anonymous (the “Big Book”). The scans show the many changes in point of view and language that were ultimately included in the first edition of the Big Book published on April 10, 1939 (http://goo.gl/frX78).

 Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks. This is a biography of Dr. William D. Silkworth, the medical doctor who played such an important role during the early years of Alcoholics Anonymous. (http://goo.gl/LXbdu).

 William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough, a biography of the wife of A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson (http://goo.gl/G6PAk).

 Mel B., Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W. (http://goo.gl/AKkT1).

 D. Samuel Hopkins Hadley, Down in Water Street: A Story of Sixteen Years Life and Work in Water Street Mission, A Sequel to the Life of Jerry McAuley (http://goo.gl/NtVCO).

 John Wilbur Chapman, S.H. Hadley of Water Street: A Miracle of Grace (http://goo.gl/hz1dh)

 T. Willard Hunter, World Changing Through Life Changing , an updated, recently-published version of Hunter's master's thesis (http://goo.gl/V3XJV);

 T. Willard Hunter, “It Started Right There”: AA & MRA: Behind the Twelve Steps and the Self-Help Movement, a booklet discussing the relationship between Alcoholics Anonymous and Moral Re-Armament (a later name of The Oxford Group).

 Several new Twelve Step Guides and Workbooks—some secular and some Christian.

 Jeff Jay and Debra Jay, Love First: A Family's Guide to Intervention (http://goo.gl/58vcJ).

 Michael Belzman, Handbook for Christ-Centered Substance Abuse and Addiction Counselors (http://goo.gl/v4bPW).

 The Life Recovery Bible (http://goo.gl/eXGDw).

 Celebrate Recovery Bible (http://goo.gl/NrN0D).

 Richard Beck, A Proud Tradition, A Bright Future: A Sesquicentennial History of St. Johnsbury Academy (http://goo.gl/Vy6Cc). Dr. Bob attended St. Johnsbury Academy from 1894 to 1898.

 The Castle in the Pasture: Portrait of Burr and Burton Academy (http://goo.gl/OHh0b). Bill Wilson attended Burr and Burton Academy from 1909 to 1913 (and almost graduated in 1913). The text and research for this book was done by Frederica Templeton, the historian/archivist for Burr and Burton Academy.

 The biographies and autobiographies of Dwight L. Moody, F. B. Meyer, Francis Edward Clark (founder of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor), Allen Folger [Twenty-five Years as an Evangelist (http://goo.gl/Pg9DB)], Ira Sankey, and Billy Sunday. And the histories of the revivals of the mid-to-late 1800's and early 1900's, the Great Awakening of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, the town of St. Johnsbury, and the Fairbanks family.

4. Thousands of pages of records, notes, pamphlets, correspondence, and manuscripts pertaining to Dr. Bob’s parents and grandparents; the family and its involvement with North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury; North Congregational Church sermons, Sunday school teachings, and Year Books; the United Society of Christian Endeavor in Vermont, generally, and St. Johnsbury, specifically; the Congregational Church in Vermont, generally, and St. Johnsbury, specifically; the YMCA in Vermont, generally, and St. Johnsbury, specifically; the schools of St. Johnsbury where Dr. Bob’s father was a superintendent; the government records of the Town of St. Johnsbury and of the Vermont Legislature, where Dr. Bob’s father held positions; the histories of North Congregational Church and of St. Johnsbury which Dr. Bob’s mother helped author; the Town of St. Johnsbury library known as the Athenaeum; birth records; the Fairbanks Museum; The Caledonian, the newspaper of St. Johnsbury and many of its articles; the courthouse where Dr. Bob’s father was Probate Judge for many years; the Vermont library system of which Dr. Bob’s mother was a Commissioner; the extensive curricula, photos, flyers, announcements, student grade records, campus news, information about debaters and fraternities, the glee club, alumni activities, YMCA events, articles of incorporation and deeds and resolutions; and other news of St. Johnsbury Academy where Dr. Bob’s mother had been a student, a teacher, an alumni committee member, and a school historian, where Dr. Bob had attended and graduated, and where his father had been an examiner; and more.

5. Hundreds of photos of Bill Wilson’s East Dorset Congregational Church, of his family, of the church’s records, church confession and creed, Sermons, Sunday school teachings, and founders, as well as pews owned (one by the Wilson family), and of church members (who included the Wilsons and the Griffiths—grandparents and parents of Bill Wilson and his wife). Also, records of Bill’s four-year required Bible study, daily chapel, weekly church attendance, presidency of the YMCA, and concerning his girl friend at Burr and Burton Academy, who was president of its YWCA

6. Recently-acquired, scanned copies of, among others: (a) Bill Wilson’s 1943 “In Christ” inscription in a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous to a Christian church leader; and (b) Dr. Bob’s hand-written roster listing all the original AAs with their length of drinking, sobriety dates, relapses if any, and ultimate status.

7. The immense amount of information we have gained in the past two and a half years as to the following elements of the recovery movement—particularly of Christian participation and outreach: assessment of a newcomer, detox centers, interventions, counseling, treatment programs, Christian treatment and residential treatment programs, after care and transitional housing, sober living, Bible studies, prayer meetings, A.A. history study meetings, films, Christian fellowships, Step studies, Big Book studies, prison outreach, homeless outreach, veterans outreach and programs, disaster information, community resource information, and programs to help discharged or entering recovered AAs and NAs to get housing, employment, trade education, medical attention, mental health attention, food, welfare, job training, job interview, and other aspects of life that free such person from temptation, slippery places, slippery people, and relapse potential—also guide him to wholesome personal hygiene, public hygiene, nutrition, fitness, exercise, recreation, and pursuit of hobbies, music, entertainment, sports, and the like.

8. To enlarge participation in the International Christian Recovery Coalition; to establish “Christian Recovery Resource Centers and Persons”; to enlarge greatly publication of all aspects of Christian recovery by Internet, radio, TV, interviews, newsletters, blogs, conferences, seminars; distribution of Dick B. books, establishment of resource libraries, enlargement of a Speaker’s Bureau and The Dick B. Handbook for Christian Recovery Resource Centers; and to encourage networking, sharing of methods and approaches by Christian recovery leaders; to encourage seminars, renewal conferences, area work teams, and inclusion of every possible aspect of current and potential Christian recovery programs.

Gloria Deo