Tony Kitchen of Urbana, Ohio is latest participant in International Christian Recovery Coalition

International Christian Recovery Coalition welcomes Tony Kitchen of Urbana, Ohio as its latest new participant.

His listing is:

           

“Tony Kitchen, Recovered Christian believer, 835 Crescent Drive, Urbana, Ohio 43078, (937) 484 7559, C: 937 869  4575, email: AKitchen46@yahoo.com”

God Bless, Dick B.

Executive Director, International Christian Recovery Coalition www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com

A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and our Planned Vermont Tour

A.A.’s Spiritual Roots: They Center on New England

An International Christian Recovery Coalition Fall Leaves Workshop

Informative Visits to Historic A.A.-Related Locations in Vermont

By Dick B.

© 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Come Join Us!

Here are some principal leads:

          www.dickb.com/turning.shtml

          www.dickb.com/drbob.shtml

          www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml

          www.dickb.com/Akron.shtml

          www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml

          www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml

We are planning a Fall Leaves Workshop centered on the New England Area and definitely zooming in on historic A.A.-related locations in Vermont: the Green Mountain territory of Bill W.’s and Dr. Bob’s youth. It’s where my son Ken and I identified and examined in great depth some of the Christian roots of A.A. And we gathered an immense amount of historical evidence, embodied it in our books and articles, posted it on the Web, and included it in our www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com presentations. But there’s nothing like the excitement of seeing it all for yourself with excellent guidance.

If we can get the response and assured funding of our own travel from Maui to Vermont, you will be able to participate in September 2012 events involving:

1.      St. Johnsbury and Dr. Bob’s boyhood home;

2.      North Congregational Church—the Smith Family church and location of the historical collections in Dr. Bob Core Library;

3.      Identifying Akron A.A.’s  “Christian fellowship” program with Dr. Bob’s Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor;

4.      The immense historical resources in the St.  Johnsbury Athenaeum (library);

5.      The St. Johnsbury Fairbanks Museum, the Courthouse where Dr. Bob’s dad was probate judge, the former location of the YMCA building where Dr. Bob’s father was President;

6.      St. Johnsbury Academy—where Dr. Bob’s mother was a teacher and later an historian, where Dr. Bob’s father was an examiner, and where Dr. Bob attended daily chapel and weekly church services and Bible studies, and participated in YMCA events;

7.      East Dorset and Bill W.’s birthplace;

8.      The Wilson House where Bill W. was born and where many A.A. meetings, seminars, and tours and offered;

9.      The Griffith House where Bill was raised by his maternal grandparents for several years and where he studied the Bible with his maternal grandfather, Fayette Griffith;

10. The Griffith House Library which probably contains the largest collection

of A.A. historical books and articles and pamphlets and memorabilia of

any place in the world

11. East Dorset Congregational Church, where Bill, Bill’s parents, and

both sets of grandparents attended; and where Bill attended church and

Sunday school, along with revival and conversion and Temperance meetings;

12. The Bill and Lois Wilson gravesites;

13. Manchester, where Bill attended Burr and Burton Academy, attending its

required daily chapel and four-year Bible study course, and was its president

of the Young Men’s Christian Association during his senior year; and

     14.Your optional personal detour to see the Fall Leaves display.

Want to come? This tour and workshop will give you a take on A.A. history, A.A. historical collections, and A.A.’s Christian roots and origins you’ve probably never heard about or understood. It will provide you with important keys to the Christian upbringing of Dr. Bob and Bill W.  It will show you more about real “spirituality”; ie., the relationship with God that the Big Book talks about. You visit a location with thousands of A.A.-related historical items. It will take you to an area filled with New England charm. It will be far more than just a walk through a memorial building or two. It will be at a time when the Fall Leaves displays and Leaf pickers are about. And Dick B. and Ken B. will be there to show you what’s what.

What is needed to make it happen:

Prayer.

A real interest in learning something very vital about “old-school” A.A. ideas and their applicability today.

A zest for a guided tour to inspect and handle scads and scads of historical evidence, attend meetings if you wish, and hear Dick B. and Ken B. report on 22 years of research as you move about and stop for some short talks.

Benefactors to provide funds for our travel are needed.

Your plans for a car or car pool with friends.

Accommodations at the St. Johnsbury Marriott hotel and in East Dorset.

And an essential willingness to walk, look, listen, and learn.

Since this will be an International Christian Recovery Coalition workshop, we are looking for a cadre of Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena who want to learn and pass on to others what we’ve found and you have actually seen.

This will be unlike other history and archive conferences, seminars, and forays.

You’ll see and enter the buildings. You’ll pick up and examine the historical items. You’ll explore on your own, too. You’ll hear from two speakers who have researched, written about, and spoken about the whole scene—many times.

This may be the only time in your life that you will have such an opportunity.

July is the month to plan and let us know if you’ll be coming and when. It is also the month to help fund our trip. And then to make your car and hotel reservations.

If the light is green in July, we’ll go. In August, we’ll act. If the light is other than green, at least you’ve had a chance to make the trip or plan a future one.                                  

For more information, contact Dick B. by email at DickB@DickB.com.

Gloria Deo

Friday Dick B. Interview of Bill Boyles in Delaware

The Dick B. Friday, June 29th Radio Interview of Christian Recovery Leader Bill Boyles of Delaware

On

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio..com

A Project of International Christian Recovery Coalition

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

You Can Hear the Archived Radio Show Right Now

_________________________________________________________

You may hear Dick B. interview Christian Recovery leader Bill Boyles on the Friday, June 29, 2012, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" show here:

http://goo.gl/w3UZs

or here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2012/06/29/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-bill-boyles

Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" radio show are archived at:

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

Synopsis of the Bill Boyles Radio Interview

“From the rock-bound Coast of Maine to the shores of Sunny California.” That’s a phrase I used to hear long-winded political speakers use when I was a kid. But ChristianRecoveryRadio.com can expand on this in several ways. Our interviews of Christian Recovery Leaders are now rapidly expanding “from the rock-bound Coast of Maine to the tip of Florida to the sunny beaches of Maui, Hawaii.” And soon we’ll be able to say “round the world with Christian Recovery Radio interviews.”

In just a few weeks, we have heard the voices of Christian recovery leaders in Toronto, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Miami, Delaware, Pittsburgh, Akron, Tennessee, Kansas City Missouri, Austin, Oroville California, Los Gatos California, Brentwood California, With  many other diverse places to follow shortly

Today’s guest was Christian recovery leader Bill Boyles, recovered alcoholic and addict, Executive Director of Won Way Out Inc. in Camden Wyoming Delaware, and about to celebrate his 25^th anniversary of freedom from alcohol, drugs, gambling, and other problems.

On a personal note, I met Bill Boyles many years back when I was doing a series of eight annual A.A. Heritage Seminars at Wilson House, East Dorset, Vermont—birthplace of A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson. Bill Boyles attended two of those seminars. And I could readily see that he was one of those AAs who understood the importance today of learning and talking about the Christian roots of the recovery movement and of Alcoholics Anonymous itself. In fact, Bill helped organize and fund our Second Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference which was held in Delaware. He soon became known in his area as the “Book Man.” Bill literally purchased hundreds of my A.A. history titles (and later Life Recovery Bibles, and also A.A. Conference-approved literature) and distributed all of them free to alcoholics and addicts and churches and meetings all over the Delaware Area. Recently, Bill traveled all the way from Delaware to Brentwood, California, to be one of the panel speakers at the International Christian Recovery Conference at Golden Hills Community Church in Brentwood.

Bill began his drinking and drug and gambling life as a youngster. He paid his dues to psychiatrists, institutions, A.A., and various other recovery fellowships. Though a figure on Wall Street and a graduate of Columbia. Bill crashed. He lost it all—his job, his fiancé, and just about everything else. He was in the position of putting a gun in his mouth and being afraid to shoot it or not to shoot it. So he cried out to God for help. He went to a rehab in Southern New Jersey and had a spiritual experience where the Lord spoke to him. And everything changed.

He got a Bible, read it, and loved it. He went to A.A. and got a sponsor, went to meetings, and took the Twelve Steps. But for five years, he had no formal religious affiliation. He just did his own personal Christian work. Then he acquired a copy of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. He realized he had been missing something the early AAs clearly had – Jesus Christ as a power, and the power into which he needed to tap.

An old-timer asked if he knew of the Dick B. books. He acquired and studied my book, The Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible (www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml). He came to my Vermont history seminars, and he also acquired a passion to launch out. He left a fine job in Delaware and established a Twelve Step treatment program called “Won Way Out.” It had an adult male facility for about 12 men (which, after a fire and renovation, will soon handle 18-20). The facility is licensed and has counselors. But its focus is on the Twelve Steps and the Word of God.

Bill’s beliefs have led him to share Christ liberally, conduct a discipleship program, and share his experience, strength, and hope. But also the importance of Jesus Christ. His mission has become to put Jesus Christ back into the Twelve Steps by pointing to early A.A. Christian roots and successes. His folks do seminars and hospitals and institutions outreach, they distribute Bibles and the Dick B. books. And they do a lot of work in one-on-one small groups. Bill points out that   a good many tell of having a bad experience with religion. His answer: Do a proper Fourth Step, list that resentment, and overcome it through the Steps.

He carries his message by speaking in church pulpits from time to time. However, he targets the un-churched. He does some Overcomers Outreach meetings. But he points out that Celebrate Recovery is for the churches, whereas his focus is on those who have no church affiliation.

Bill has The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide and our new book Stick with the Winners: How To Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings Using Conference-approved literature.

He uses both to enhance his own Christian recovery approaches. He plans a women’s facility before long and also will focus on broadening the message-carrying wherever possible. And, for a well-rounded and effective approach to Christian recovery today, one can do no better than to acquaint himself or herself with Bill Boyles of Won Way Out, Inc. in Camden Wyoming, Delaware.                                                                                                     

  

dickb@dickb.com

Gloria Deo

Dick B. Interviews Delaware Christian Recovery Leader in Delaware

Preview of

“Dick B. Interviews Christian Recovery Leader Bill Boyles”

on the Friday, June 29, episode of

the “Christian Recovery Radio with DickB” Show

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

By Dick B.

Our guest, Bill Boyles, is a recovered Christian Recovery leader whom I have known and with whom I have worked for many years.

I met Bill when I was doing a series of A.A. Heritage Seminars at the Wilson House (birthplace of A.A. cofounder Bill W.) in East Dorset, Vermont. Bill was present two different years, and it was clear that he was a devoted Christian who saw the importance of early A.A.’s biblical roots in recovery from alcoholism and drugs today.

Since I first met Bill, I have watched him leave an important executive position at a Delaware utility, align himself with Christian leaders and workers in recovery, and work with those who help other alcoholics and addicts get well by turning to God for help.

Bill established a nonprofit ministry that provides Christian treatment for alcoholics and addicts. He helped organize and fund my Second Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference in Delaware. Through the years, he has become what he calls himself—the “Book Man.” This means that he has purchased hundreds and hundreds of my A.A. history books, circulated them among his church friends, and passed them out free to newcomers in Delaware. Recently, he flew all the way from Delaware to attend and be a speaker at our International Christian Recovery Conference at Golden Hills Community Church in Brentwood, California.

I’m enthused about this interview which will bring our listeners, my son Ken, and me up to date on the Christian recovery happenings at Won Way Out in Camden Wyoming, Delaware. And Bill will be free to tell us a little about himself, his family, his career, his church, his bouts with alcohol and drugs, his activity in 12 Step work, and his treatment program and other activity today.

Bill will provide the details. But here are some facts to help you identify him and his program. He is William Boyles, Executive Director of Won Way Out Ministries, Inc. It is located at 8345 Westville Road, Camden Wyoming, Delaware. It is a private company, was established in 2005, and is incorporated in Delaware as a Miscellaneous Denomination Church.

And now Bill will tell us about his Christian recovery programs, his family’s participation in the work, the scope of its religious and recovery activities, its status as a Christian organization, its relationship with the community, its outreach, and its plans for the future. DickB@DickB.com                                                               Gloria Deo

Thursday Christian Recovery Leader Interview with Dick B.

The Thursday June 28^th Radio Interview by Dick B. of Recovery Pastor Matt Pierce of Golden Hills Community Church, Brentwood, California

A Project of International Christian Recovery Coalition

on

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

______________________________________________________________

Here’s how you can listen this program (which is also archived) right now

You may hear Dick B. interview Christian Recovery leader Matt Pierce on the June 28, 2012, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" show here:

http://goo.gl/7HwpD

or here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2012/06/28/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-matt-pierce

Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" radio show are archived at:

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

Synopsis of the Matt Pierce Interview

Today’s radio interview with Matt Pierce, Recovery Pastor at Golden Hills Community Church

in Brentwood, California brought out several refreshing facts.

First the ChristianRecoveryRadio.com radio interviews are offering a great diversity of speakers and subjects.

Second, our objective of bringing in representative, personally known, world-wide Christian recovery leaders, workers, newcomers, and concerned participants in International Christian Recovery Coalition is exceeding in practice our fondest hopes.

Third, today’s speaker represents a growing number of unusual Christian church leaders who are first and foremost devoted to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They tend to be young. They spring from a background of drug and alcohol abuse. They also have recovered from their maladies.They have had favorable experiences in A.A. and other 12 Step fellowships. They favor daily Christian fellowship in the nature of that found in early First Century Christianity as reported in the Book of Acts and in the early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship.

And they speak to our audiences as garden variety drunks and addicts, Christian clergy or recovery pastors, Christian counselors, Christian intervention specialists, Christian treatment program directors, chaplains, psychiatrists, addiction medicine specialists, professors, historians, pharmacists, psychologists, sober living and residential living owners or directors, and people with outreach into prisons, the homeless, veterans, military, legal and judicial arenas, 12 Step groups, and professions such as nursing, therapy, and, social work.

Now to Matt and the Golden Hills campuses, programs, and visions.

Matt had his own struggles with alcohol and drugs at an early age. He did not enter A.A. until he was 31. He entered A.A. with little religious experience.  He was just plain sick. He entered A.A. in 1991 and believes it saved his life. He read the Big Book. But he did not grasp the spiritual side which he defines as knowing who  God is and having a relationship with Him through His son—just expecting God to reveal himself. And, as he says, he was not disappointed. For he met a man who witnessed to him about God and His son. He began attending church and grasping the truth of the Gospel. He accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. Then he went to Bible School and pursued the pastorate.

But he hit a snag. He decided he didn’t need recovery and could do what was needed through religion. He spent eight years in the midst of legalism, he says; and he sought righteousness through works. He married and had two kids. But he hit bottom. He was burned out.

Back he went to his recovery roots. As a Christian pastor, he got a sponsor and worked the Twelve Steps. He got an understanding of the sin issues that were controlling his life. Then he became a College Pastor and was appointed Recovery Pastor five years ago. And the church program is called “New Hope.”

There began a series of recovery activities he still loves and pursues. The church program had a Friday night program somewhat similar to that of Celebrate Recovery. It enabled  “Open Share” groups—some 15 to 20 groups on specific issues. But they needed more than these. Participants are directed to the many A.A. meetings on Fridays. A relationship with Christ is poured in. There is a Leadership Training emphasis in the church, and it has a steady flow of leadership students There is a new campus about 5 miles away, and another New Hope program is slated for Mondays. A recent expansion has been the establishment of a resident program about ninety miles away. It is located in a town called “Rescue.” The main street is “Mercy Way.” And the facility is called “Bethesda Way.” They will bring in young men between 18 and 25, have two mentors and a program director. The church is now sponsoring a non-profit fellowship hall where all kinds of meetings to “honor God” are held.

And Matt says his most refreshing resource has been his finding of our own emphasis on old school, old style, A.A. meetings with A.A. Conference-approved literature and traditional early A.A. approaches. He expects to have the church start one of our suggested “Stick with the Winners” meetings in mid-July. He is very supportive of the many projects of International Christian Recovery Coalition. His church is now a member of the “Agape Circle” which supports our worldwide work. It sponsors ChristianRecoveryRadio.com. And looks forward to working with Ken and myself to learn and teach more about old school A.A.’s Christian fellowship, principles, and practices.

Matt may be visiting us in Maui some of these days, as we urge all Christian Recovery Leaders and Workers to do sooner or later. To that, we say and offer “Aloha.”

dickb@dickb.com

Gloria Deo

The Co-Founders of A.A. Pamphlet P-53 Now Available Online

In our many meetings, conferences, workshops, and articles, International Christian Recovery Coalition has been urging Christian leaders, workers, and newcomers to obtain from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services up to 500 of A.A. General Services Conference-approved Pamphlet P-53. We have found so few in the hundreds of meetings we've attended, and we've concluded that this brief pamphlet on The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks is a sadly neglected door to what Alcoholics Anonymous really was and is like.

We still urge you to acquire the pamphlets, put them on literature tables, put them in sober clubs, put them in Central Offices, give them to sponsors and sponsees, quote them in your talks, and pass them out to AAs, Christian leaders and workers, and others as widely as possible.

In addition, this important pamphlet can be read online:

http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theCo-FoundersofAA.pdf

If you get a copy, read a copy, pass along a copy, go to the URL, and utilize Pamphlet P-53, you will find that the last major talk by A.A. Co-Founder Dr. Bob in Detroit in 1948 is fully reported.

There Dr. Bob tells of his Christian upbringing in Vermont. He tells how he got sober through prayer. He tells how the visit of Bill W. to Akron was, in Henrietta Seiberling's words, "manna from heaven"--an answer to the prayers for Bob's deliverance. You'll find Dr. Bob speaking of his excellent training in the Bible as a youngster in Vermont (www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml). You'll find him speaking of how the first three got sober by turning to God and studying the Bible when there were no Steps, no Traditions, no drunkalogs, and no meetings or Big Book as there are today.

You'll find Dr. Bob saying that the oldtimers believed the answer to their problems was in the Bible (www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml), You'll find him calling attention to the Bible's Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 as being "absolutely essential" to the Akron recovery program. www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml.

You'll find him telling of the daily fellowship meetings they had, giving rise in part to the many remakrs calling early A.A. First Century Christianity at work. And you'll find him pointing out that the basic ideas for the Twelve Steps came from all the study and effort that had been going on for the preceding four years in the Bible.

You'll find Bill Wilson calling Dr. Bob the "Prince of All Twelfth Steppers."

And you'll see an A.A. that relied on the power of God in ways that you never knew before.

"Don't leave home without it." Read it. Share about it. Enlighten your suffering friends. Pass it on to others. Counter all the nonsense god ideas, all the "spirituality" talk, all the "not-god-ness" labels, and all the erroneous remarks about where A.A. ideas really came f rom.

Again, you can start your journey now with P-53 on the internet at:

http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theCo-FoundersofAA.pdf

dickb@dickb.com.

Dick B. Radio Interview of Canadian "Akronite" Mark G.

Dick B.’s Christian Recovery Radio Interview on June 27 of Mark Galligan, Christian Recovery Leader from Ontario, Canada

Hear This Interview Now

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Listeners today heard a very down-to-earth, AA Christian give a nuts and bolts interview on his many years in A.A., his ups and his downs, his miraculous deliverance through prayer, and his extensive sponsorship of newcomers. That guest, our guest Mark Galligan. is a long-recovered alcoholic and very active in A.A. He is a businessman. He lives in Ontario, Canada. He is a Christian Recovery Leader and has been a participant in International Christian Recovery

Coalition since its inception in July of 2009.

_____________________________________________________________________________

You may hear "Dick B. interviews Christian Recovery leader Mark Galligan" on the June 27, 2012, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" show here:

http://goo.gl/7OLJ5

or here:

Dick B. interviews Christian Recovery leader Mark Galligan, June 27, 2012

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2012/06/27/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-mark-galligan

Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" show are archived

___________________________________________________________________________

Synopsis of the Mark Galligan Interview Today

Mark entered Alcoholics Anonymous at age 19. Like many an AA, he was ordered to enter the fellowship to avoid a very difficult sentence. His first sponsor was an uncle who sobered up with Bill W. in 1939. Bill W. spoke twice at their A.A. meetings; and, as Mark and many others have observed, Bill droned on for two and a half hours each time. Mark was given a tattered copy of the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous and a Bible. He was told, at the beginning, to read the first half of the Big Book—three pages at a time; and he was advised that on completing that assignment he would have taken the Twelve Steps and be ready for service to others in the fellowship.

Mark’s uncle was his first sponsor. And the uncle had been sent to Akron to learn from Dr. Bob. The uncle learned and vigorously passed along the early AA emphasis on the Bible and shared fully about it in A.A. meetings—sometimes discreetly and sometimes vociferously. Mark’s area had a large stock of archival material including letters signed by Bill W. and Dr. Bob, and many written by Cleveland’s founder Clarence H. Snyder. The Snyder correspondence was filled with references to Scripture.

Mark attended our international Christian recovery leaders conference in May of 2009 at Mariners Church Community Center in Irvine, California. He was one of the speakers and watched over our substantial exhibit table in company with Dr. Robert T., a professor of medicine from South Carolina and a devoted Christian. At the Irvine Conference, Mark was attracted to our original printers manuscript of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers which is an A.A. General Service Conference-approved book we acquired from its owner Dennis Cassidy of Connecticut.

Over his 45 year span in A.A., Mark has become convinced of several major facts:

(1) AAs do not stop drinking because they stop going to meetings. They stop drinking only when they stop praying and then stop going to meetings.

(2) The present-day dropout rate in A.A. is enormous; the success rate abysmal. And there is a solution available from the early A.A. program.

Mark himself has not been without the bumps in A.A. At one point in 1976, he went to the Olympics, his wife was suicidal, and his wife had killed their son while driving under the influence. Depressed, Mark went on a binge, and wound up in a jail in Florida. Another time, again suffering from depression, he went on a binge, drove his high performance car straight into a tree; and he wound up in a jail in Arkansas when he had never before been in Arkansas. Mark was badly injured. He was DOA at the hospital. The doctor said, “Bag him and tag him.” But a persistent nurse brought him back to life. He went into a coma for 16 days. When he came out of the daze, he found three Menonite brethren on their knees beside his bed. One was a minister. The other two were AAs.  They laid hands on him and prayed for him; his obsession to drink was lifted. And that ended his drinking for good.

Mark became very interested in Dr. Bob’s Home in Akron because he knew about the importance of the Bible in its early days. He met Ray G. [who has also been one of our interviewed Christian Recovery Leaders]—long-time archivist at Dr. Bob’s Home. Ray gave him a copy A.A.’s Pamphlet P-53, The Co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks. Mark was struck by the simplicity of the early program as described in that pamphlet covering Dr. Bob’s talk. Dr. Bob said in that talk that the oldtimers believed the answer to their problems was in the Bible. He added that the parts they considered absolutely essential were Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13. As stated, Mark has taken a particular interest in the printer’s manuscript of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers we hold. And this manuscript is of special importance because of the written changes and the full names of the early AAs it describes and quotes. It is filled with material on early A.A. Bible study, old fashioned prayer meetings, Quiet Times, Christian reading and daily devotionals, surrenders to Jesus Christ, and the original A.A. Christian fellowship founded in Akron in 1935.

Mark began making plans to obtain, make copies of, and digitalize our manscript so that it could be seen all over the world.

(3) Mark has become very distressed over the practice becoming more and more common in the fellowship of refusing to let AAs have ready access to, study, copy, and use the large body of historical materials found in recent years. He also wants to acquire the DR. BOB printer’s manuscript and a host of our other A.A. historical materials and support our project to place such items where they can be accessible and open to view at the Dr. Bob Core Library in Dr. Bob's boyhood village of St. Johnsbury,Vermont.

Mark has been a frequent speaker and sponsor. Today, less speaking, but still a big focus on sponsorship. He was told to read the Bible and learn recovery according to the will of God. And he was quick to point out that God’s will is found in the Bible. His A.A. group call themselves the “Akronites” because the focus is on the early A.A. program that was so successful in Akron during the 1930’s. It is also very much influenced by Clarence Snyder and the Cleveland A.A. program that was spun off from Akron. In DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, Clarence was reported as having this conviction about the Cleveland AA program begun in May of 1939. It incorporated the Bible, the Oxford Group’s Four Absolutes (Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness, and Love), the Big Book, and the Twelve Steps just published. It also incorporated “most of the old program.” See DR. BOB, p, 131 for a summary. Clarence said at page 261:

That’s the trouble. They take it so casually today. I think a little discipline is necessary. I think A.A. was more effective in those days. Records in Cleveland show that 93 percent of those who came to us never had a drink again. When I discovered that people had slips in A.A., it really shook me up. Today, it’s all watered down so much. Anyone can wander in now.

Following the lead of Dr. Bob in Akron and Clarence Snyder in Cleveland, Mark has a Christian study group with a 90% retention rate. Mark observes the 10% are unable for mental reasons or unwilling thoroughly to follow the program. The “Akronites” follow up with the newcomer regularly on the phone. They recover in their Christian walk, he said,  if—like early AAs—they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Mark will be back again to tell us more of his story, plans, and efforts.

dickb@dickb.com

Gloria Deo

Dick B. Interview of Christian Recovery Leader Mark Galligan of Canada

Preview of Dick B.’s Christian Recovery Radio Interview on June 27 of Mark Galligan, Christian Recovery Leader From Canada

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Our guest Mark Galligan is a long-recovered alcoholic and very active in A.A. He is a businessman. He lives in Canada. He is a Christian Recovery Leader and a participant in International Christian Recovery Coalition since its inception  in July of 2009.

Mark attended our international conference in May of 2009 at Mariners Church Community Center in Irvine, California. He was one of the speakers and watched over our substantial exhibit table in company with a professor of medicine from South Carolina. He was attracted to our original printers manuscript of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers which is an A.A. General Service Conference-approved book we acquired from its owner Dennis Cassidy of Connecticut.

This manuscript is particular importance because of the written changes and the full names of the early AAs it describes and quotes. It is filled with material on early A.A. Bible study, old fashioned prayer meetings, Quiet Times, surrenders to Jesus Christ, and the original A.A. Christian fellowship founded in Akron in 1935. Mark began making plans to obtain, make copies of, and digitalize it so that it could be seen all over the world. He also endeavored to acquire this and a host of other A.A. historical materials and support our project at Dr. Bob Core Library in Dr. Bob's boyhood village of St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Mark will tell us a little about himself, his family, his drinking days, his activity in A.A., and his large group of A.A. Fellowship members who call themselves the "Akronites." This group is very oriented to community outreach, passing out A.A. Conference-approved Co-Founders  Pamphlet  P-53, helping newcomers get well, and making it possible for them to become children of God by new birth.

Mark brings many new AAs to Akron--where A.A. was founded and had its Christian Fellowship, and we are eager to hear from this hands-on man of A.A. love and service.

dickb@dickb.com

The Tip of the A.A. Iceberg

The Tip of the A.A. Iceberg

What Happens When Someone Tells You What You Can’t Do

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Scholar Robin Room wrote an article, a very small portion of which states the followins

“(a) The group as self-governing, subject to no external authority or

superstructure (Tradition 9). The discussion in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

emphasizes the distinction between "the spirit of vested authority and the spirit of service" (p.

174). AA has an elaborate structure of service boards and committees, elected directly or

indirectly by AA groups, but power is firmly defined as lying at the base rather than in the

structure: "our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern" (Tradition 2).

Accordingly, it is noted in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (pp. 173-4), a headquarters

communication to a group will be worded in the form of suggestions: "Of course, you are at

perfect liberty to handle this matter any way you please. But the majority experience in A.A.

does seem to suggest. . . .

“In practice, there are some forms of recognition or non-recognition of AA groups.

Johnson (1987:427-431) reports that in Southern California the local central office sends out

a delegate to observe procedures in a new group, "to see that the group is not violating the

Traditions", before listing it in the area directory of groups and meetings. Listing in the area

directory is an important means of recruitment of new members, often by referral by others,

so that denial of a directory listing may affect the continuation or growth of the group. But

there is nothing to stop an unlisted group continuing and considering itself to be an AA group.

Certainly failure to participate in and support AA's service structure does not hinder

recognition; about half the groups listed in the directory for a northern California county fail

to participate in and support AA's general service structure.”

He or she who plows straight into this iceberg without notice may find great frustration and have unnecessary anxiety, hesitation, and even fear. Not to mention, a sinking ship.

There are ample examples in my own experience over 26 years and in the experience of hundreds of Christians in A.A. who have informed me about the following: (1) A sponsor who tells you that if you read the Bible you will get drunk. (2) You must not share in meetings about God or Jesus Christ. (3) You must never read or quote from the Bible in a meeting. (4)  You must never encourage someone to join you in church or come to your Bible fellowship. (5) If you organize a meeting, you cannot call it a Bible Study Group, a Big Book Bible-Study Group, or allow a Bible or Christian materials to be displayed on any literature table. (6) You will not be allowed by the Central or Intergroup office to be listed as an AA group if you organize such a group. (7) You must fill out an application in writing which is sent to New York for approval; and it will be rejected if you indicate your group mentions God or the Bible or Jesus in its name or says it will study any or all of these “religious materials or subjects.” And there are a number of letters that have issued from A.A. Central Offices and from General Services in New York that condemn any of the practices mentioned. (8) Your DCM may inspect your meeting to see if it conforms to A.A. Traditions. (9) The “suits” may appear and try to block your meeting.

This rigidity and inexcusable behavior happens. And it sometimes causes AAs to cease a meeting, cease a practice, change a name, or cower in fear of discovery.

We have published Stick with the Winners! How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings Using Conference-approved Literature. This guide, plus a series of 27 videos will tell you where the icebergs are, what to do when you learn of one, and how to avoid crashing your traveling ship into one. We cite ample A.A. Conference-approved literature that will leave you confident that you can do what the early AAs did. That you can do it today. And that is rude and erroneous  for any A.A. leader, group, or office to hinder what you do.

Early AAs read the Bible, quoted the Bible, and listened to the Bible. They conducted “old fashioned prayer meetings.” They insisted that members believe in God and that they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They read all kinds of Christian literature and Christian devotionals, and they quoted these and circulated these at meetings.

See Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library, 3^rd ed; The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, 7^th ed; The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible; The James Club and the Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials; Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939

See also DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980)

dickb@dickb.com; www.dickb.com; www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com; http://drbob.info

Gloria Deo

Christian Recovery Radio Interview of Bonnie Burke of Wilson House

You may listen to Dick B.'s interview of Christian leader Bonnie Burke on the June 26, 2012, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" show here:

http://goo.gl/H21G0

or here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2012/06/26/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-bonnie-burke

The "Christian Recovery Radio with DickB" show episodes are archived at:

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

God as Early AAs Did Understand Him

God As Early AAs Did Understand Him

By Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Where do I start?

Where and how should you start reading the Bible if you are one who wants to use the Good Book for recovery, for deliverance, for an understanding of God, and for further spiritual growth in A.A. or a 12-Step Fellowship today? Well, why not start at the beginning! See Dick B., Why Early A.A. Succeeded (a Bible study primer) www.dickb.com/aabiblestudy.shtml.

Just remember, however, this article is a guide. It will not quote the begats. It will not quote the Bible in toto or even large parts of it. It will not tell you how to interpret the Bible or where to go to be taught about it. It will suggest some approaches. Most of these approaches have now been documented as those used by the A.A. pioneers. They may help you in graduating from A.A.’s kindergarten, as Bill Wilson called it, and moving on to a greater understanding of God (the Creator our pioneers relied upon), the Bible (the Good Book they read for spiritual facts), and the spiritual principles (which they borrowed from the Bible and biblical sources and used as their guide to loving and serving God and doing His will). See www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml

Explanatory Bible Verses Early AAs Could Read as They Studied the Bible

The first verse in the Bible (King James Version, which early AAs used) states:

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

Learning about, and understanding God, can and should begin at the beginning with God as our Creator. That is perhaps a good reason why A.A.’s Big Book text refers to God as Creator twelve times (See Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., pp. 13, 25, 28, 56, 68, 72, 75, 76, 80, 83, 158, 161). And the Bible certainly declares, confirms, and reiterates that God is our Creator, saying:

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. . . . (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding (Isaiah 40:28).

Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein (Isaiah 42:5).

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19).

When you want to seek, find, meet, and get to know someone, you usually start by asking his or her name. So let’s start with our Creator’s name. God not only has a name, He specifically declared what His name is. As rendered in the King James Version, Exodus 6:2-3 state:

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

For a discussion of the divine name YHWH and its translations as YHWH, Yahweh, Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, LORD, and Jehovah, see: The Shocken Bible: Volume I, The Five Books of Moses, (New York: Shocken Books, 1995), pp. XXIX, 285, 287; John R. Kohlenberger, III, The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), pp. XXXV and 158; David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible (Maryland: Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1998), pp. xxxiii-iv, 65; Martin Abegg, Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999), p. 32; and The Jerusalem Bible, Readers Edition, 1966, pp. 3, 7.

In His Word, God has revealed a great deal to us about Himself. The Good Book says:

God Explained Himself so You Could Understand Who He Was and Is and Will Be

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him,

I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect (Genesis 17:1).

And God said unto him [Jacob], I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. . . . (Genesis 35:11).

Note Bill Wilson’s comment that only God Almighty could cure the alcoholic’s form of lunacy (Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 12-13).

(Note: Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., pp. 57, 63, so describes Him):

Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded (Isaiah 45:11-12).

(Note the last line of Dr. Bob’s story, Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., p. 181; and Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 234):

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven . . . (Matthew 6:9).

But whosoever shall deny me before men [said Jesus], him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 10:33).

So then after the Lord [Jesus] had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God (Mark 16:19).

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God (Psalm 93:1-2).

The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God (Psalm 14:2).

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall not make it good? (Numbers 23:19).

And also the Strength of Israel [will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent (1 Samuel 15:29).

For he [God] is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment (Job 3:32).

I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy: for I am God, and not man. . . . (Hosea 11:9).

God’s Son Explained and Declared His Father

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (John 1:18).

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

Who [God’s dear Son] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature (Colossians 1:16).

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love (1 John 4:8)

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1 John 4:7-11)

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you. that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)

The Greatness of God

the eternal God (Deuteronomy 33:27)

the living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:9)

an holy God (Joshua 24:19)

the God of our fathers (1 Chronicles 12:17; Ezra 7:27; Exodus 3:13. 15, 16)

the God of peace (Romans 16:20)

the God of all grace (1 Peter 5:10)

the God of patience and consolation (Romans 15:5)

the God of hope (Romans 15:13)

the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3)

love (1 John 4:8, 16)

the Father of mercies (2 Corinthians 1:3)

the Father of lights (James 1:17)

God the Father (Ephesians 6:23)

God our Father (Ephesians 1:2)

the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3)

our heavenly Father (Matthew 6:9, 32)

our Father (Matthew 6:9)

our Saviour (1 Timothy l:l;2:3)

the living God (Acts 14:15; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Hebrews 1:22; Isaiah 37:17)

the living Father (John 6:5 7)

the true God (I John 5:20)

One God

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:5)

Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith (Romans 3:30)

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Ephesians 4:6)

Thus saith the LORD, the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God (Isaiah 44:6)

Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6:4-6)

. . . for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God . . . (Deuteronomy 5:9).

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me (Deuteronomy 5:6-7)

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:2-3)

Why all these Good Book quotes?

See www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml

Granted, early A.A. pioneers, and their founders, studied the Bible and took their basic ideas from the Bible. But why all these quotes from the King James Version of the Bible? Because the author is trying to make available to AAs and Twelve Step Fellowships today a specific and accurate knowledge of exactly what early AAs meant when they used biblical expressions in the Big Book, in their pamphlets, and in their stories. When they repeatedly used the word God, the word Creator, the word Maker, and all the other descriptions of God such as Almighty God, the God of our Fathers, Father, Spirit, and so on, they were talking only about the one God–Yahweh–the Creator–who was the one true God, the living God, as to whom they were to have none other.

Why go into such detail? Because the universalization, the revisionists, the inclusive urgings that began almost as early as 1940, all slowly contributed to the following ideas. God can be a higher power. The higher power can be the group. The higher power is merely a power greater than yourself–any old power will do, just as long as it is a power greater than you are. Therefore, they say, the power greater than yourself can be: Gertrude, Ralph, a light bulb, some goddess, Santa Claus, a chair, the Big Dipper, a doorknob, a bulldozer, a table, or good orderly direction. Such absurd names for God, as Sam Shoemaker characterized them, soon gave rise to historical treatises about what A.A. is. Such scholarly works began declaring that A.A. is really about not-god; that the word God is just an expedient or convenient name for anything you want it to be. Finally, this same kind of distorted thinking led to official proclamations that AAs were free to, and could invent, could make up, their own higher power–which could be him, her, or it. The same or similar writings asserted that AAs could make it into something or nothing at all.

This kind of thinking calls for the following statement: You would have a very difficult assignment if you asked a table for, prayed to a light bulb about, looked for guidance from, or sought relief for your alcoholism through: Santa Claus, Gertrude, the Big Dipper, or it.

Early AAs Were Talking About Their Creator, Not Santa Claus or Some Group

To understand the original program–the one with a documented 75% to 93% success rate--you have to understand what the pioneers were talking about. And they were talking about seeking, finding, understanding, and making conscious contact with the Creator–not Santa Claus, nor Gertrude, nor a chair. They simply weren’t that stupid, and we shouldn’t even doubt their intelligence on this score!

If you or they looked at a quarter or a dollar bill and notice the inscription, In God we trust, would you say that meant In a table we trust. Or In a group we trust. Or in something we trust. Think about it! Is anyone that far off the beam?

No Problem. The Early AAs Did Understand God and Said So

God either is, or He isn’t, they said. And Hebrews 11:6 told them exactly what to do about it.

dickb@dickb.com; www.dickb.com

Gloria Deo