Dick B. interviews Christian Recovery
leader John S. on the December 2, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery
Radio with Dick B." show found at:
Copyright 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
You may hear this broadcast right now!
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You
may listen to Dick B. interview Christian Recovery leader John S. on the December
2, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
here:
http://mcaf.ee/52o67
or
here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2013/12/02/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-john-s
Episodes
of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
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Introduction
This
morning's guest is John S. of Norco, California. John is a long-recovered
Christian recovery fellowship leader. And he has been the most successful
organizer and perpetuator of James Clubs in the International Christian
Recovery Coalition. John attended our May 2009 conference of leaders at
Mariners Church Community Center in Irvine, California. And he was among those
who had met with a not-unusual barrier from a local 12 Step office trying to
block the work of the James Clubs. But John plunged ahead with this effort. He
held a large Christian recovery conference at his church in Norco. I have
spoken there, and my son Ken has also spoken in Norco. John wrote a manual for
James Clubs. And he rested his efforts on the very clear language of A.A.
cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob that the early AAs believed the answers to their
problems were in the Good Book and that they considered Jesus's Sermon on the
Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13 to be absolutely essential to
their program--a program that was succeeding long before there were any Twelve
Steps, Twelve Traditions, Big Books, War Stories, or meetings like those we
know today. Bill and Bob had both said that James was their favorite. They both
said that the Sermon on the Mount contained the underlying spiritual philosophy
of A.A. And the early members wanted to call their Society "The James
Club." In Norco, John saw local people growing in number with this concept
and also expanding the number of clubs in their churches and in Norco. Today,
John will tell you a little about his family, education, airplane activities,
recovery efforts, Christian affiliations, and the progress of the James Club
movement. John will tell you how they began, grew, expanded, and blessed those
who followed the path. Take it away, John.
Synopsis
The
thrust of John’s remarks was detailing how his James Club groups in Norco have
used the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, the
Bible, prayers, laying on of hands, and leading drunks to Jesus Christ—just as
was done in early A.A. The interesting
thing is that local clubs and A.A. leaders went to any lengths to prevent
meetings where the Bible was even in the room. They barred the meetings from
the directory. They attended meetings and proclaimed that the James Clubs could
not do what the early AAs did and what the highly successful Cleveland Groups
did. When Cleveland A.A. was organized in May, 1939, the members brought with
them the Twelve Steps, the Big Book, the Oxford Group Four Absolutes, the
Bible, and “most of the old program” (meaning the Akron practices of
qualification, hospitalization, prayers, quoting of Scripture, and growing
growing growing) – the fastest growing group in A.A. and one which surveyed and
documented a 93% success rate.
When
the Norco groups asked local leaders what authority they had for barring the
Bible from meetings, they said they didn’t know. And they were emphatic that
you couldn’t have Christian meetings.
The
fact is that Dr. Bob’s Bible, for many years, was brought from the back of the
room to the podium and rested there throughout the meeting. At the end, the
Bible was retired to the back of the
room to await the next meeting. That Bible contained inscriptions to the Akron
meeting signed by Bill Wilson, Dr. Robert Smith, and A.A. Number Three (Bill
D.). This fact is noted in A.A.’s own conference-approved book – DR. BOB and
the Good Oldtimers.
The
Norco James Clubs have now grown to four in number, and the clubs themselves
have consistently grown in attendance. One of the concepts followed is learning
to be open-minded about those who are close-minded. And this call for unity
sets an example for other groups which serve and glorify God and Jesus Christ
and have Bible studies. It stands as a challenge to the ever-increasing number
of “agnostica” meetings, atheist meetings, “spiritual meetings,” and higher
powered meetings.
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