Dick B. Radio Interview
of Christian Recovery Leader David P. of
Rock Recovery
Ministries, San Diego, on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Dick B.
Copyright
2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved
You May Hear This Radio Interview
Right Now
You
may listen to Dick B. interview Christian Recovery leader David P on the July
3, 2012, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
here:
http://goo.gl/ZlC2I
or
here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2012/07/03/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-david-p
Episodes
of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com
______________________________________________________________
Synopsis
of David P. Christian Recovery Radio.com Interview
I’ll depart from my usual summary
format for three reasons: (1) You need actually to listen to David’s radio
interview because it shows how a lay recovered Christian leader has worked up a
Christian Recovery Ministry at a very large church (13,000 every Sunday at Rock
Church in San Diego) and still managed a hands-on ministering day in and day
out to still suffering alcoholics, addicts, and others with life-controlling
problems. (2) It will help demonstrate how a vibrant and successful Christian Recovery
program—dubbed “Faith Based”—can reach out to newcomers regardless of their
religious beliefs or lack of belief, utilize the important fellowship aspects
of Anonymous 12 Step Fellowships like A.A., and also offer a clear-cut option
to old school A.A. of the Akron Christian Fellowship variety of 1935 while
applying those Christian techniques and
using A.A. “Conference-approved literature” (3) It makes clear that a
group can attain a high recovery rate based on performance and results and the
attraction that such a program brings.
Each of our interviews has offered
listeners a unique look at the varied Christian recovery programs which are
succeeding with an “A.A. Friendly, Bible Friendly, Recovery Friendly, Newcomer
Friendly, Friendly Friendly” approach that affords newcomer Christians and
non-believer newcomers alike an opportunity to get well and utilize God’s help
if they choose. It’s not a “Christian-Track” approach. It’s a solid “faith-based”
offer of help of the upscale variety that can avoid relapses, achieve sobriety,
and establish a relationship with God through Jesus Christ as well.
I want to take the time to recount
several of David’s highly useful quips and
suggestions:
Not
conditioning admission on one’s religious or Christian faith or convictions: As David put it “Jesus collected the fish and cleaned them up
later!” David told of a Christian lady who had failed in another treatment
program and persistently sought
admission to a Rock Recovery Ministries facility. Then she took David aside and
declared: “Do you know what these women are saying and doing. They are not
Christians.” In substance, the answer was: “We don’t require people to be
Christians in order to seek recovery here.” And then the Jesus fish-cleaning
tale.
Handling
the critical old-timer who objects to the words God or Jesus or Bible. As David put it, “There are times
when a speaker will get up and tell in a meeting how the Big Book and a few
verses in the Bible have inspired him.” A “generic” remark, said David—not one
designed to evangelize. Then a long-sober “bleeding deacon” may get up and
declare: “If I had heard the words God and Bible when I came into the program,
I’d have left the rooms and gotten drunk.”
The man may have been well-intentioned. But, as David put it: A cloud
descends on the room. What can you say? You may give this appropriate answer
after the deacon has retired from the pulpit—saying to the group assembled: “I
appreciate those views, but A.A. literature says. . . . “
The
Big Book view of the integrity of Conference-approved literature. Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th
ed., 2001, at page xxiv, points out David, declares this: “. . . our
literature has preserved the integrity of the A.A. message. . .” And very
often the “wisdom of the rooms” can and should yield to what A.A. literature
itself has to say about God and the Bible. For example, A.A.’s own DR. BOB
and the Good Oldtimers contains innumerable comments about how God and the
Bible and Jesus were studied, stressed, and discussed in A.A.
The
speaker talk in the rooms didn’t have enough teeth for David. Then he met a
happy, crippled newcomer who quietly showed him the way. David entered the rooms as an
alcoholic and a court card person. But he was motivated. After his first
meeting, he never had another drink. But he had the feeling that he needed messages
with more teeth. However, at 90 days of sobriety, he met a very happy young man—a
waiter by trade—who had a birth defect that left him with a deformed arm that
looked like a wing. They called him “Winger.” David thought to himself, “How
can this guy be so happy. If I had such a physical disability, I’d probably be
drinking and in self-pity.” But for the
first few encounters, the young man would say the usual to him: “Don’t drink.
Go to meetings, Get a sponsor,” etc. He
kept thinking there was something more to this man’s life that he was not
telling. He saw a “light inside the man.” David kept asking, and the
routine answers were the same. Finally, the young man simply said to him in
substance: “I go to the Horizon Church where Pastor Miles is. He’s an addict and
has been sober a long time.” Nothing more. No witnessing. Just a statement.
But David looked up the church, went there; and when Pastor Miles established
Rock Church, David attended there. He was asked by an A.A. friend who was one
of the pastors if he would lead a recovery ministry. David said he thought the
A.A. meetings were weak, and the pastor agreed. Finally, David—though repeatedly
asked, repeatedly said he wasn’t qualified. Then he concluded, “I’d rather
fail with the Lord than succeed on my own.” He relented and began leading
the seven day a week ministry we described in the preview and he tells about in
his interview. Don’t miss it.
Gloria Deo
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