The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference
September 6-7, 2013
Portland, Maine
[A.A. cofounder Dr.
Bob was a member of Christian Endeavor
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.,172), founded here
2/2/1881]
Featuring A.A. Historian Dick B. of Maui, Hawaii,
and Special Guests
Conference Theme:
“The History of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Another View Which Includes Its Christian Beginnings
in New England”
Meetings, Roundtables, Speakers, Research, and Workshops in
Portland, Maine
[Plus: (1) Research
tour of Dr. Bob’s birthplace, St. Johnsbury, VT, Sept. 8-10;
(2) Free At
Last Group A.A. meeting, Wed., Sept. 11; 5:30 pm potluck dinner;
7:00-8:30 pm speaker discussion mtg.; guest speakers Dick B. and Ken B.]
Main Conference
Location:
The First Baptist
Church of Portland, Maine
360 Canco Rd.,
Portland, ME 04103; www.firstbaptistportland.org/
Conference Schedule
(** NOTE: Admission is FREE. Registration is required. **)
Friday, September 6 (** New
start time to allow for additional speakers! **)
12:30 to 1:00 pm: Initial on-site conference registration
1:00 pm: Conference begins with prayer by Ken B.
1:05 to 1:10 pm: Welcome and Introduction by Dick B.
and Ken B.
1:10 to 2:00 pm: Mark Galligan, Ontario, Canada:
The
Akronites and Canadian Successes
2:10 to
3:00 pm: Gary Agnew, Connecticut:
A.A. History,
Veterans, and Correctional Outreach
3:10 to
4:00 pm: Jim Haselhuhn, Washington:
Pictures from
2012 research in Vermont, Cleveland, and Akron
4:10 to 5:00
pm: Tim Kolstad, Colorado:
Clarence H.
Snyder and the Came to Believe Retreats,
The Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community Workbook
5:10 to 6:00 pm: Father Bill W., Texas
Quiet
Time
6:00 to 7:20 pm Dinner break—on your own
7:30 to
9:30 pm Roundtable discussions w/presenters
and conference participants; moderated by Dick B. and
Ken B.
Saturday, September 7
9:00 to 9:45 am: Conference registration (cont.),
coffee and tea, hospitality
9:45 to 9:55 am: Second day of conference
begins with prayer and brief overview
by Ken B.
9:55 to 10:00 am: Welcome by Wally C., conference host
10:00 to 10:50 am: Session One: Russell S., Miami:
The
12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
11:00 to 11:50 am: Session Two: Dick B. and Ken B.:
A. A. Origins,
History, Founders, and Facts
12:00 to 1:15 pm: Lunch Break: $5.00 onsite or on your own
1:15 to 2:05
pm: Session Three: Dick B.
Sponsorship Today:
The Neglected Sponsor
2:15 to 3:05 pm: Session Four: Dick B. and Ken B.
Orienting, Prepping,
and Informing Newcomers
3:15 to 4:15
pm: Friday’s speakers each summarize
their talks in eight (8) minutes
4:15 to
4:30 pm: Break
4:30 to 5:20 pm: Session Five: Dick B. and Ken B.:
“Stick with the
Winners!—Part One”:
The Vermont story, and Christian training
of Bill W. and Dr. Bob; how the first three AAs got sober; the original Akron
A.A. Group Number One “Christian fellowship” program
5:30 to 6:20 pm: Session Six: Dick B. and Ken B.
“Stick with the
Winners!—Part Two”:
Personal Stories of A.A.’s Pioneers;
Conference-approved literature that supports the pioneers’ message of reliance
on God; applying “old-school” A.A. in recovery today
6:20 to 6:30 pm: Conference ends with prayer by Ken B.
** We encourage conference participants to meet with each other
for dinner and otherwise following the close of the conference on Saturday
evening. **
For more information about “The First International
Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference,” please contact Dick B.’s son Ken by
email at: kcb00799@gmail.com.
Conference Mission
The mission of this conference is to present an accurate and
comprehensive picture of Alcoholics Anonymous history which includes the roles
played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.’s astonishing
successes.
Of alcoholics who came to A.A. and
really tried, 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after
some relapses; and among the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed
improvement. [Alcoholics Anonymous,
4th ed., xx]
Records in Cleveland show that 93
percent of those who came to us never had a drink again. [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 261]
Your Heavenly Father will never let
you down! [Dr. Bob in Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 181]
Bill [W.] looked across at my wife
and said to her, “Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of
this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling
people.” [AA # 3, Bill D., in Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 191]
When we [Bill W. and Dr. Bob]
started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions.
But
we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. [Dr.
Bob in The Co-Founders of Alcoholics
Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (A.A. pamphlet #
P-53), 13]
Conference Audience
This conference is for members of 12 Step Fellowships
(including old-timers, speakers, sponsors, newcomers, and garden variety drunks
and addicts); other International Christian Recovery Coalition “participants”;
physicians, clergy, recovery pastors, and other Christian leaders and workers
in the recovery arena; and professionals working in the fields of intervention,
detox, treatment, sober living, counseling, psychology, and psychiatry.
Conference Registration
Admission for “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous
History Conference” is FREE! Registration
is required. For more information about the conference please contact Ken
B. by email at kcb00799@gmail.com or by
phone at 1-808-276-4945. To register for the conference, please send to Ken B.
by email at kcb00799@gmail.com: (1)
your name; (2) your postal mailing address; (3) your email address; and (4)
your telephone number. Ken B. will send you by email a confirmation as to the
acceptance of your registration.
If you would like to make a donation to help offset the
costs involved in putting on this conference, please contact Ken B. by email at
kcb00799@gmail.com or by phone at
1-808-276-4945. Thank you!
Ongoing Conference Developments: Expansion!
Substantial, valuable, expansive changes are here announced
as to “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference” in
Portland, Maine, and related events over the seven-day period from September 6
through 12, 2013.
We are delighted to see many valued and distinguished
registrations for this admission-free conference pouring in. Dick B. and Ken B.
will be available to meet with many leaders and speakers before and after the
Friday and Saturday conference events.
And a number of Christian leaders and workers in recovery
arena from around the world will be giving presentations in which they will
tell us about what they are currently doing in the recovery arena; how well the
work is going; how others can help; and their vision for the future.
We are looking forward to having speakers and others
attendees from throughout the United States and from other countries
participate in “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference.” Conference topics will be diverse; e.g., Quiet Time and the
Eleventh Step; the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous; Sponsorship; Focus on
Newcomers; the real, historical, Christian roots of A.A.; and how “old-school”
A.A. ideas can and should be applied in today's recovery fellowships and
programs as a powerful opportunity for those who want God's help in overcoming
alcoholism and addiction, and who are willing to go to any lengths to get it.
As our list of speakers grows, we hope to include topics
such as the Wilson House, Burr and Burton Seminary, the YMCA, Rescue Missions,
Evangelists, the Salvation Army, Congregationalists, and Christian Endeavor, and
others.
Are you one of those would like to learn more about the
following topics:
·
“Old-school” A.A.—particularly as it could be
observed in Akron and in Cleveland during A.A.’s earliest days;
·
How much A.A. has changed since Bill W. included
what he called “the new version of the program, now the ‘Twelve Steps’” in the
first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (“the Big Book”) published in April 1939
(see Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162); and
·
How “old-school” A.A. principles and
practices--which drew on the power and love of “the God of the Scriptures” (as
Bill W. called the Creator of the heavens and the earth on page 284 of The
Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings)—may be applied today.
Using A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature, and without
“violating the Traditions.” Even in a Fellowship that certainly today includes
Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, unbelievers, and those
with no belief at all.
There is room in our Society for all when one heeds both the
spirit and the letter of key statements in the Big Book, such as the following
one about the Twelve Traditions:
. . . [W]e had to evolve principles
by which the A.A. groups and A.A. as a whole could survive and function
effectively. It was thought that no alcoholic man or woman could be excluded
from our Society; that our leaders might serve but never govern; that each
group was to be autonomous . . .
This
was the substance of A.A.’s Twelve Traditions, . . . [N]one of these principles
had the force of rules or laws. [Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., xix]
There is no room in our Society for those who try to
blockade free exercise of rights and privileges by any particular approach so
long as that free exercise maintains the primary purpose of carrying the
message to alcoholics and addicts who still suffer. There is plenty of room in
the Fellowship for the individual who wants to share with the newcomer
. . . in his own language and from
his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 29]
And who wants to make known the major role that God, His Son
Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in early A.A.’s astonishing successes
(according to A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature), and can
play in recovery today. Room for those who want truth, not opinion. Room for
those who help, instead of criticize and hinder. Room for those who want
healing, instead of in-and-out bondage, temptation, and relapse. Room for those
that recognize that the heart of A.A. was and is “the Solution”:
There
is a solution. . . .
The central fact of our lives today
is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and
lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those
things for us which we could never do by ourselves. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 25]
Sound familiar? Of course! That was the message Bill W. said
his friend Ebby T. had carried to him:
But my friend sat before me, and he
made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do
for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. .
. . Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, . . .
Had
the power originated in him? Obviously it had not.
.
. . It began to look as though religious people were right after all. . . . My
ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 11]
The “solution” set forth in the Big Book of Alcoholics
Anonymous is grounded on the Creator’s entering into the hearts and lives of
those who have come to believe that Divine Aid is the solution for their
alcoholism; and those who have recognized that they can't help themselves, that
probably no human power can, that God can and will, and that they can choose to
exit from the "medically incurable" category and enter into the
“recovered” category.
Tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands--of
Christians and potential Christians are currently involved in, or will soon be
entering the rooms of, Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step Fellowships. They
are puzzled by talk of nonsense gods, higher powers, spirituality, and atheism.
They are often intimidated by remarks in meetings to the effect that talk of
Jesus and the Bible (and sometimes even talk of God) is against “the
Traditions,” and/or that the Bible is “not Conference-approved.”
They need not be puzzled or intimidated! A major purpose of “The
First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference” is to educate
those who want to know about the facts of A.A.’s history and A.A.’s Christian
predecessors who were successful in healing alcoholics and addicts. You will
meet Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena who work with
garden-variety alcoholics and addicts; as well as those who are knowledgeable
of various disciplines and areas of study, including religion, medicine,
psychiatry, “old-school” A.A., the origins of A.A., the founding of A.A., and
the original “Christian fellowship” of A.A.
Many of the conference speakers have had the opportunity to
observe what both Bill W. and Dr. Bob stressed: (1) Love and tolerance as our
code. (2) Love and service as the essence of the program--old and new--and the
form it took in A.A.’s early days and is taking today.
A Further Conference Update
The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference will be held in Portland, Maine, on September 6-7, 2013. The
conference itself will run from 1:00 pm
to 9:30 p.m. on Friday evening, September 6; and it will continue from 9:45 a.m. until about 6:30 p.m. on
Saturday, September 7, at the following location:
The First Baptist
Church of Portland, Maine
360 Canco Rd.,
Portland, ME 04103
Dick B. and Ken B. will be staying at the following hotel
from September 5-12:
Hilton Garden Inn
Portland Airport
145 Jetport Blvd.,
Portland, ME, 04102
1-866-767-0278
Dick B. and Ken B. check in Thursday, September 5, and check
out on Sunday, September 8. Dick and Ken will be available for pre- and
post-conference personal, small-group, and workshop meetings with Christian
leaders and workers in the recovery arena. These meetings will cover Dr. Bob’s
wife, Anne Smith, and Quiet Time-Eleventh Step practices and resources; and
other subjects being formulated as speakers emerge. The meetings are broadening
in number and topic as Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena are
registering right now.
We are also offering
a research tour of St. Johnsbury, Vermont (about three hours away), September 8-10. (St. Johnsbury is the birthplace
and boyhood home of A.A. cofounder Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith.) We will depart
from Portland, Maine, by automobile on Sunday afternoon, September 8, about
1:00 p.m. We will depart from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, about 4:30 pm on Tuesday
evening, September 10. This will allow for two full days of research and
touring with Dick B. and Ken B. in St. Johnsbury. Dick B. will staying at the
following hotel in St. Johnsbury—checking in on Sunday, September 8, and
checking out on Tuesday, September 10:
Comfort Inn & Suites
703 US Route 5 South
Saint Johnsbury, VT 05819
Phone: (802) 748-1500
If you would like to
participate in this optional research trip to St. Johnsbury—which will
involve securing a hotel in St. Johnsbury on Sunday, Sept. 8, and Monday, Sept.
9--please contact Dick B.’s son Ken ASAP
by email at kcb00799@gmail.com or by
phone at 1-808-276-4945. [Please remember Dick B. and Ken B. live in Hawaii.
3:00 pm in New York (EDT) = 12 noon in California (PDT) = 9:00 am in Maui,
Hawaii (H.A.S.T.)]
Other Meetings and Events with Dick B.
and Ken B., September 6-11, 2013:
Sun., Sept. 8, to Tues., Sept. 10: Research trip to Dr. Bob’s birthplace, St. Johnsbury, VT
Wednesday, Sept. 11: Portland:
Morn./afternoon: pers. mtgs. w/Dick & Ken B.;
Evening: Free At Last Group A.A.
meeting, Wed., Sept. 11; 5:30 pm potluck dinner; 7:00-8:30 pm speaker
discussion mtg.
To register for “The First International Alcoholics
Anonymous History Conference” (Admission is FREE!), or for more information
about the conference, please contact Dick B.’s son, Ken, via email at kcb00799@gmail.com or on his cell phone at
1-808-276-4945.
Please join us in Portland September 6-7, 2013!
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