Dick B.'s FYI Messages

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Was or Is A.A. a Unique Treasure?

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:14:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Was or Is A.A. a Unique Treasure? <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> Was or Is A.A. a Unique Treasure?   Dick B. � 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved   Introduction   As I have been traveling, interviewing, reading, speaking, and writing, I�ve seen and heard many things recently that I never heard when I entered the rooms of A.A. almost 24 years ago. One thing is clear: The A.A. that was founded in 1935 very little resembles the A.A. so many have been involved in today. More importantly, A.A. Lately has faced critics of all sizes and shapes that it did not face before. And we will talk about the facts in the well-known A.A. fashion: �What we were like. What happened. And what we are like now.�   First, however, let�s look at the myriad changes: Many churches today are denouncing A.A. because it no longer talks about Jesus Christ and the Bible.  A few religious writers claim it was heretical from the beginning. The more poetic of its critics say it is �spiritual, but not religious.� A large number of writers claim you don�t have to believe in anything at all to belong to A.A. And then there are the government, scientific, academic, medical, clinical, and treatment folks who have done a complete turnabout: They talk less about the �Minnesota Model.� They talk more about the �Medical Model.� They even talk about the �Spiritual Model.� A few claim a new therapeutic approach is needed. There are more variations. However, none has yet produced much in terms of documented success with its particular approach. Pharmaceuticals, vitamins, meditation, �spirituality,� psycho-therapy, intervention, and other ideas haven�t made a dent in the growing problem. Not even the war on drugs.   But that�s not what I saw when I came in. It�s not even what I listened to as I roamed the rooms in search of hope, healing, and a new life. I saw victory, and I pursued it. Successfully! I achieved victory by diving into the program; learning its �recovery� aspects in the Big Book and Twelve Steps; and side-stepping the naysayers who told me I�d get drunk if I read the Bible, who told most of us that we�d drive newcomers out of the rooms if we mentioned God, and who prattled on about their various higher powers�ranging from Ralph to the Big Dipper to a doorknob to a chair. None of the negative approaches appealed to me at all. I didn�t follow them. They didn�t drive me out. And, if anything, they strengthened my conviction that God could do for me what I had not been able to do for myself. And He did!   Let�s now look at the A.A. that was, that changed, that isn�t, and that is.   What We Were Like   Here are five major things familiar to AA's today that were not part of the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program reported on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers:   <ol style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" start="1" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal">Early A.A. had no Twelve Steps;</li> <li class="MsoNormal">Early A.A. had no Big Book;</li> <li class="MsoNormal">Early A.A. had no Traditions;</li> <li class="MsoNormal">Early A.A. had no �drunkalogs� to speak of; and</li> <li class="MsoNormal">Early A.A. had no meetings of the kind(s) we know today.</li> </ol>   (For the documentation concerning the absence of the five items listed above from the the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program, please see: Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, available through my main web site: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>.)   Frank Amos investigated the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program for John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in February 1938 and confirmed its success. Following his visit to Akron, Amos summarized the original Akron A.A. �Program� in seven points. Here are those points, as quoted on page 131 in Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers: �         An alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that he must never drink anything with alcohol in it. �         He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope. �         Not only must he want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse to work with him. �         He must have devotions every morning�a �quiet time� of prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding �         He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions. �         It is important, but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and form both a social and a religious comradeship. �         Important, but not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly.   In addition to the seven elements of the original Akron A.A. program which Amos documented in his report, I have also identified and documented 14 key practices of the early A.A. pioneers in Akron in several of my titles, including: (1) Dick B., Real Twelve Step Fellowship History: The Old School A.A. You May Not Know (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 85-92; <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://dickb.com/realhistory.shtml"> http://dickb.com/realhistory.shtml</a>; (2) Dick B., A New Way In: Reaching the Heart of a Child of God in Recovery With His Own, Powerful Historical Roots (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 9-14; <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://dickb.com/anewwayin.shtml"> http://dickb.com/anewwayin.shtml</a>; and (3) When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 3rd ed., 2006), 31-26;  <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://dickb.com/alcoholismcured.shtml"> http://dickb.com/alcoholismcured.shtml</a>.   Dr. Bob�one of A.A.'s two cofounders, and the man whom Bill W. called �the prince of all twelfth steppers��told AAs what the program was really like in the early days during his last major speech in 1948. This talk was reproduced in The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Item P-53). Dr. Bob said:   . . . e were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. [p. 13]   To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James. [p. 13]   I didn�t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them. [p. 14]   We got them [i.e., the basic ideas] . . . as a result of our study of the Good Book. [p. 14]   In November 1937, Bill W. met with Dr. Bob in Akron, and they counted recoveries. DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers reports on page 123 concerning that meeting:   �A hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases had by then been sober a couple of years,� he [Bill W.] said. �All told, we figured that upwards of 40 alcoholics were staying bone dry.�   DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers continues on page 123:   Dr. Bob and Bill realized a �chain reaction� had started, and �Conceivably it could one day circle the whole world. . . . We actually wept for joy,� Bill [W.] said, �and Bob and Anne and I bowed our heads in silent thanks.�             . . .             This was when Bill began to think of . . . writing a book of experiences that would carry the message of recovery to other cities and other countries.   The November 1937 meeting during which Bill W. and Dr. Bob counted recoveries demonstrated the success of early A.A., especially in Akron. Not long thereafter, Dr. Bob prepared a hand-written list of the members. It gave names, length of drinking period, length of sobriety, and relapse if any. Dr. Bob's list ended up in the Rockefeller Archives in New York, and it is still there (as of late 2009). It corresponded to several other rosters I personally have seen and compared, and provides authoritative evidence of the many early successes and of the failures.   When asked to write his own personal story, which is still the first of the personal stories in A.A.�s basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, Dr. Bob concluded: �Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!� [p. 181]   That�s what we were like!   Previously, medicine had regarded �last-gasp� alcoholics as �medically-incurable� and said so. Yet across the nation, early A.A.�s unique success was proclaimed in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. They said, in large part, that AAs had been cured by the power of God�when neither they themselves nor anyone else had been successful in helping them up to that time.   That record was unique. It was a treasure. It put A.A. on the map. And it offered hope to those really willing to go to any length to get well.   What Happened?   I leave to others the mechanics and logistics as to how the Big Book was written. In fact, as of this writing, we eagerly await a new book which will contain a heavily-annotated manuscript of one phase of the Big Book publication.   As for the period from 1938 to 1939, the following outline will suffice: (1) The original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� continued to pump out successful, recovered converts. (2) Bill Wilson sought and obtained a vote authorizing his preparation of a book which was supposed to describe, figuratively, �how it worked.� But this he did not do. (3) Instead, Bill drew on what he had learned of the Oxford Group life-changing program. He claimed that some six �word of mouth� ideas were being used. But he described them in at least four different ways, and he said there was disagreement among AAs as to how they were being applied. (4) He closeted himself with his friend, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., and worked out Twelve Steps which were to be the heart of the Big Book program. At first, he asked Shoemaker to write them, but Shoemaker declined. (5) Bill claimed there were three main fountains from which his Steps flowed�Dr. William D. Silkworth, Professor William James (long dead), and Reverend Sam Shoemaker. He conceded that ten of the twelve steps came from Shoemaker�s teachings. (6) In fact, however, Bill drew on some 16 different sources for the ideas, language, and ideas he laid out in the Big Book. [See Dick B., A New Way Out: New Path � Familiar Road Signs � Our Creator�s Guidance (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 14-21; <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://dickb.com/anewwayout.shtml"> http://dickb.com/anewwayout.shtml</a>.] The Big Book, then, was not at all a report of how the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� had gone about its successful program. In fact, it intentionally discarded all significant references to the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the Akron program.   What really happened is that Bill compromised on the word �God.� Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age reports on pages 166-67 that, after a heated battle among a �committee� of four people on the East Coast�one of whom was Bill W.�the committee made the following decisions, among others:   <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">To change Bill W.'s use of the unqualified word "God" in his �original draft� of Step Two into "a Power greater than ourselves."</li> </ul>   <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">To change his use of the unqualified word "God" in his �original draft� of Step Three into "God as we understood Him."</li> </ul>   <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">To change his use of the unqualified word "God" in his �original draft� of Step Eleven into "God as we understood Him."</li> </ul>   As Bill W. stated frankly on page 167 of Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: �. . . e finally began to talk about compromise. . . . Such [i.e., the three critically-important changes discussed above and two others of less significance] were the final concessions to those of little or no faith; this was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics.� These changes to the highly-successful, original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program�which had no Twelve Steps, required surrender to God, and required acceptance of Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior�were incorporated into the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in April 1939. And thus these compromises became part of the new, �official� program propounded in the Big Book  to this day. And the aftershocks are still being felt.   What We Are Like Today   A.A. today is no longer a �Christian fellowship� as it was in the 1930�s in Akron. There are, nonetheless tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Christians in A.A. And A.A. itself has in recent years laid down some specific rules far different from those in effect when it claimed a 75% success rate overall and had a documented 93% success rate in Cleveland. For example: (1) The only requirement for membership today is a desire to stop drinking�whereas belief in God, decisions for Jesus Christ, and study of the Bible were required in the original Akron A.A. fellowship. (2) A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature today states that a person does not have to believe in anything at all to be in A.A. today�whereas its Big Book and Twelve Steps are specifically pointed at �establishing a relationship with God,� �finding God,� and adhering to �the abc�s� which end with item (c): �That God could and would if He were sought��relieve a member of his or her alcoholism. (3) A.A.'s �leadership� today keeps insisting that A.A. is not a religion; is not �religious�; and that it may be �spiritual, but not religious��whereas the courts called upon to rule on the issue have largely found the obvious��A.A. is a religion.�   As stated at the beginning of this article, some Christian writers claim you are hell-bent for destruction if you set your foot in A.A.�s doors or keep company with the many unbelievers in today's A.A. Far more Christian leaders and churches are becoming inclined to disavow the A.A. program�not because they know where it came from, but because they see what it has become. Some groups try to provide a bridge between A.A. and the churches. AAs have, to a great extent, developed a rigid attitude about the mention of God, His Son Jesus Christ, or the Bible; about saying the Lord�s Prayer at the close of meetings; and about even reading any literature in or out of meetings that is not (A.A. General Service) �Conference-approved.� When their approach is ignored, the �bleeding deacons� (to use a Bill Wilson phrase) claim a violation of the �Traditions��Traditions� which are, in fact, neither mandatory nor enforceable. They claim that any literature that even appears in an A.A. meeting must be banned if it is not �Conference-approved,� even though the Bible and Christian literature were common fare in early A.A. At times, they send intimidating letters or threatening representatives to squash �violations� and  intimidate members into ceasing their activities, their convictions, and their sharing.   A.A. today is watching either a �no growth� or a declining center of membership. It still seems to hover at around 2 million members worldwide; but the statistics as to how long these members stay, how often they come and go, and how successful they are cannot be firmed up. Many �scientific� studies simply reject A.A. success stories today as �anecdotal,� and as lacking when it comes to the use of �accepted� scientific procedures in gathering and analyzing them. Many courts are refusing any longer to compel A.A. attendance as they were doing when I entered A.A. in 1986. Many treatment programs�which used to bus patients to A.A. as a compulsory attendance matter�have closed. And many treatment centers today are more inclined to modify their original Twelve Step emphasis, and talk in terms of the �Medical Model� or some �spiritual� model.   My own experience has been that, the more the old timers learn what early A.A. was really like, the more they want to know; and the more they tend to return to the precepts of the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program. The timid succumb to intimidation. But many with substantial sobriety and accurate knowledge of early A.A.'s astonishing successes in Akron and  Cleveland just resist leaving, continue sharing, and welcome facts.   What the Outcome Can Be   I believe the story of many �social movements,� at least in the United States�like the YMCA, the Salvation Army, rescue missions, homeless shelters, sober houses, half-way houses, recovery fellowships, and even church-related recovery efforts�is one of adaptation and change, rather than demise. Once established, and once able to seek the aid of the United Way or similar community charities, government grants, private or institutional charitable donations, insurance support, and sheer-entrenched �leadership,� they adapt, change, and survive. But that does not mean their principles are unyielding. A.A. probably already has followed and undoubtedly will follow this course.   But there are two underlying and compelling challenges: (1) Is it important to rely upon, serve, obey, and glorify God and His Son Jesus Christ�and the answer in much of early A.A. originally was an unqualified �yes.� (2) Is the primary purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous to carry the message to the newcomer who still suffers�and the answer should be an unqualified �yes.� Most AAs would, I think, agree.   In other words: Consider these factors: Early A.A. claimed a 75% success rate overall and a documented 93% success rate in Cleveland. This amazing success took place among the worst-of-the-worst�the �seemingly-hopeless,� �medically-incurable,� �last gasp� alcoholics who really tried to follow thoroughly the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program. Early A.A. relied upon God. Early A.A. produced cures. Early A.A. focused on helping the next person get well. Early A.A. boldly picked up the Bible, read whatever literature it could find, used whatever Bible devotionals were handy, conducted �old-fashioned prayer meetings,� unabashedly sought the guidance and help of Almighty God, tried to obey God�s commandments, insistently refused to drink�no matter what�and surged forward to help the next suffering soul who entered the doors.   What can happen today is this: If alcoholics and addicts think God can be their refuge, He can. If alcoholics and addicts realize they have a lot to learn about God, they will. If alcoholics and addicts subscribe to the biblical precepts of love, kindness, patience, tolerance, and serving the Creator, they�ll have no difficulty with others who think or believe otherwise. If alcoholics and addicts flee from the Fellowship, they may find little help elsewhere. If alcoholics and addicts fight within the Fellowship or fight the Fellowship itself, they are repudiating the very precept that AA. laid down about avoiding controversy. If alcoholics and addicts really abhor God, His Son Jesus Christ, the Bible, church, religion, freedom of speech, tolerance, love, and service, they certainly can find a place in the Fellowship today. In fact, Bill W. underlined that choice when he said, �God either is, or He isn�t.� But God-rejectors and God-deniers have little assurance that their position and choice will help them, help others, or help the Fellowship. Certainly not in the �God-centered� way the Big Book bespeaks.   Christian AA's today can choose to �stick with the winners,� such as Dr. Bob and his sponsee, Clarence S. They can follow the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program documented on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. And they can apply the 14 practices of the highly-successful early Akron and Cleveland fellowships that I have discussed and document elsewhere. I'm rooting for you!   Dick B.'s main web site: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a> Dick B.'s email address: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:DickB@DickB.com"> DickB@DickB.com</a>     Gloria Deo</div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: A.A. History, Origins, Early Program, Successes

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:01:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: A.A. History, Origins, Early Program, Successes <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1">   A.A. History, Origins, Early Program, Successes   How to See and Hear the Facts in Brief or in Depth   Dick B. � 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved   Twitter: For frequent, brief info: TWITTER <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://twitter.com/MauiHistorian"> http://twitter.com/MauiHistorian</a>   Facebook: For brief info and exchanges <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/mauihistorian?ref=profile"> http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/mauihistorian?ref=profile</a>   Blog�The Real �Power� Behind A.A.: For frequent articles in 2010 <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/"> http://MauiHistorian.blogspot.com/</a>   Dick B. Main Website: Books, Articles, Audio, Radio, Archives, Links <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>   Dick B. Personal A.A. History Blog <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb-blog.com/"> www.DickB-blog.com</a>   Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.drbob.info/"> www.DrBob.info</a>   Take12Radio.com [Tuesday show: �A.A. History with Dick B.�] <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.take12radio.com/"> www.Take12Radio.com</a>   International Christian Recovery Coalition <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.christianrecoverycoalition.com/"> www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com</a>     Dick B.'s email: DickB@DickB.com   Gloria Deo         </div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: �Stick with the Winners�

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:15:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: �Stick with the Winners� <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> �Stick with the Winners� Authoritative Quotes about the Early A.A. Pioneers   Dick B. and Ken B. � 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved     Early A.A. claimed a 75% success rate among �seemingly-hopeless,� �medically-incurable,� �last-gasp� case alcoholics who really tried to follow thoroughly the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program. How do we know this? We go straight the current edition of �the Basic Text for Alcoholics Anonymous,� the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book Alcoholics Anonymous (the �Big Book�). The Fourth Edition of the Big Book (first published in 2001) contains on pages xv-xxi a reprint of the �Foreword to Second Edition.� (The Second Edition of the Big Book was first published in 1955.) And the following statement is made on page xx of the �Foreword to Second Edition�: 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.   Why do we use the words �Christian fellowship� in conjunction with the original A.A. program Bill W. and Dr. Bob began developing during the summer of 1935. Again, we go directly to A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature for the answer�in this case, to DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (published in 1980). This book states on page 118:   �[A.A. cofounder] Dr. Bob was a prominent man in Akron. Everybody knew him. When he stopped drinking, people asked, 'What's this not-drinking-liquor club you've got over there?' 'A Christian fellowship,' he'd reply.�   DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers states on page 131 that Dr. Bob was the �leader by common consent� of the first Akron group, which was known as �Akron Number One.� (See, for example, page 353 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, The Language of the Heart: Bill W.'s Grapevine Writings, for this name for the first A.A. Group.)   What was the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program that produced these astonishing successes with the toughest cases imaginable before the publication of the First Edition of the Big Book in April 1939? We find the seven-point original A.A. program summarized by Frank Amos on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers: �         An alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that he must never drink anything with alcohol in it. �         He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope. �         Not only must he want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse to work with him. �         He must have devotions every morning�a �quiet time� of prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding �         He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions. �         It is important, but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and form both a social and a religious comradeship. �         Important, but not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly   In addition to the seven principles of the original Akron A.A. �Christian fellowship� program, Dick B. has documented in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature the following 14 practices that were closely associated with the original A.A. program:   1. Qualifying each newcomer.   2. Hospitalizing newcomers was a must.   3. Inviting the newcomer to �surrender� by professing a belief in God and accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior during his five-to-seven-day stay at the hospital.   4. Upon leaving the hospital, newcomers were often taken to the Oxford Group meeting at T. Henry and Clarace Williams� house, given a Bible by Dr. Bob, and told by Dr. Bob to �go out and fix drunks as an avocation.�   5. Most newcomers went to live in the Smith residence or in the residences of other Akron people as long as needed in order to get steady in their path.   6. There were Christian fellowship meetings every day, with Dr. Bob, Anne, and Henrietta Seiberling. These included group Bible study, prayer, and Quiet Time observances.   7. In addition, each morning, alcoholics and their family members gathered at the Smith home for a Quiet Time conducted by Anne, with prayer, Bible reading, seeking guidance, and discussion of portions of Anne�s personal journal.   8. There was one �Oxford Group� meeting each Wednesday at the home of T. Henry Williams�a meeting unlike any other Oxford Group meeting�rather like an old-fashioned revival meeting. And at these weekly meetings, there was a time in which newcomers were required to make a �real surrender� with Dr. Bob and one or two others upstairs. There the newcomer, on his knees, accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, asked that alcohol be taken out of his life, and asked strength and guidance to live according to cardinal Christian teachings. The elders prayed with him after the manner of James 5:16.   9. There was extensive reading of Christian devotionals and literature provided by Dr. Bob and distributed at meetings.   10. There was particular stress on study of the Book of James, Jesus� Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and 1 Corinthians 13.   11. Meetings concluded with invitations to reach out to newcomers in the hospital and elsewhere, and then closed with the Lord�s Prayer.   12. There was frequent socializing in the homes, particularly on Saturday evenings.   13. Members knew each other well. They phoned and visited each other. And they kept little address books with the names, phone numbers, and street addresses of the pioneers. Also, this data was listed on some of the rosters which they kept and which are discussed next.   14. In addition, rosters of the names and addresses, sobriety dates, and relapses, if any, were kept and still exist today.   For extensive documentation in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature of the 14 practices presented above, see Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. (2010), available at <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>.   <a name="sdfootnote1anc"> To be able to �stick with the winners,� we must know who they were. Two men immediately stand out. The first is A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob, �the prince of all twelfth-steppers.� Why is he one of the winners? Here is what the other A.A. cofounder, Bill W., had to say about Dr. Bob on page 171 of the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous:</a> To 1950, the year of his death, he [co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Dr. Bob] carried the A.A. message to more than 5,000 alcoholic men and women, . . ."   Bill W. also stated on page 34 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved pamphlet, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Item P-53):   Between 1940 and 1950, in the company of that marvelous nun, Sister Ignatia, he [Dr. Bob] had treated 5,000 drunks at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron. . . . So Dr. Bob became the prince of all twelfth-steppers. Perhaps nobody will ever do such a job again.   The second is Clarence S., Dr. Bob's sponsee and founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland in May 1939. (See DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 161-67--especially 167.) Why is he one of the winners? To begin with, the early Cleveland fellowship had a documented 93% success rate.  DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers states on page 261:   "I [Clarence S.] think A.A. was more effective in those days. Records in Cleveland show that 93 percent of those who 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." Mitchell K., Clarence S.'s biographer, reported on page 108 of How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio (Washingtonville, NY: AA Big Book Study Group, 1999) as to the 93% success rate in Cleveland: Two years after the publication of the book [i.e., of Alcoholics Anonymous (the "Big Book") in April 1939], Clarence made a survey of all of the members in Cleveland. He concluded that, by keeping most of the "old program," including the Four Absolutes and the Bible, ninety-three percent of those surveyed had maintained uninterrupted sobriety.<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="#sdfootnote1sym#sdfootnote1sym">1</a>   And the early Cleveland fellowship grew from one group to 30 groups in one year. As stated in Three Clarence Snyder Sponsee Old-timers and Their Wives, comp. and edited by Dick B., Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community: A Twelve-Step Guide for Those Who Want to Believe (Winter Park, FL: Came to Believe Publications, 2005), 9.   Of the first 260 people who came into A.A. in Cleveland, ninety-three percent never drank again! These were the Cleveland groups that grew from one to thirty in a year. We  encourage you to share the positive, power and love of God with people�especially suffering newcomer who may be blessed to hear that message. And �stick with the winners!�   D<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:dickb@dickb.com">ickB@DickB.com</a>; <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>;   Gloria Deo</div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: The Freedom from Directives That All AAs Enjoy

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:36:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: The Freedom from Directives That All AAs Enjoy <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> The Freedom from Directives That All AAs Enjoy   Dick B. � 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved   What Bill Wilson Told Those Who Followed   The following very relevant and important information is found in the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:   It [Alcoholics Anonymous] does not at any point conform to the pattern of a government. Neither its General Service Conference, its General Service Board, nor the humblest group committee can issue a single directive to an A.A. member and make it stick, let alone hand out any punishment. . . . Groups have tried to expel members, but the banished have come back to sit in the meeting place, saying, 'This is life for us; you can't keep us out.' . . . An A.A. may take advice or suggestions from more experienced members, but he surely will not take orders. . . . One would think that A.A.'s  Headquarters and General Service Conference would be exceptions. Surely the people there would have to have some authority. But long ago Trustees and staff members alike found they could do no more than make suggestions, and very mild ones at that.   [Source: Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957), 118-19.]   The Woods Are Full of Those Who Try to Direct or �Govern�   Almost all of the criticisms of Alcoholics Anonymous that abound today are based on one or more erroneous assumptions, such as: (1) That AAs are all of one mind. (2) That AAs are all of one type. Thus one of the recent critics asserts that A.A. is not �Bible pure.� Of course it isn�t! Most of the incoming crowd have strayed so far from Bible purity that they wonder how they could have become so crazy and could have been such trouble makers. And don�t think that they all are changed into angels just because they go to meetings or read the Big Book or �take� the Twelve Steps. Same thing for those Christians in A.A. (3) That all AAs are hell-bound and will taint and tarnish and condemn anyone�anyone one at all�who fellowships with these �evil� souls. (4) That the prophecy of Isaiah 53:5-6 is untrue. In the King James Version, these verses say of the one who was to come:   Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.   And that�s the Savior so many early AAs and AAs today needed and accepted. (5) That the A.A. hierarchy (of which there is none) somehow says, �Jump;� and the docile sheep ask, �How high?� But 1 Peter 2:24-25 declared of Jesus� accomplishments, �Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep gone astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.� That�s the word for those who become children of the living and true God.   Some may just want to go to meetings. Some may want to believe in nothing at all. And some may even hold with those who think we have a mandatory program which, in the words of two critics, constitute �12 Steps to Destruction.� But if you receive a directive or an order from A.A. World Headquarters or some staff member, or from some local Central Office, or even from a �delegate,� or DCM, or GSR, or speaker, or sponsor, you are free to ignore the directive, pursue your Christian walk, improve that walk, tell others exactly how and why you are doing it. And tell anyone what God has done for you. For A.A. is about as unorganized and ungoverned and undirected as it is possible to be�whatever you may see or hear today. Nobody, just nobody, can direct you as to anything you should or must or are not free to do.   D<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:dickb@dickb.com">ickB@DickB.com</a>; <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>   Gloria Deo</div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: A.A. and Tweet, Tweet, Twitter

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:12:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: A.A. and Tweet, Tweet, Twitter <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> A.A. and Tweet, Tweet, Twitter An Emerging, Vital Resource for Busy Christian Participants in the Recovery Arena   Dick B. � 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved   2010�Things are Changing for the Better!   For 20 years, we have been grinding out research, writing, books, articles, audios, conferences, links, blogs, and other resources designed to keep you up to date on our quest to learn and report on the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.'s astonishing successes, and how the lessons learned by the highly-successful, original Akron A.A. �Christian Fellowship� can be used today to help more effectively those who still suffer.   Those resources may be found on our web sites:   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://christianrecoverycoalition.com/"> http://ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com/</a>  [The International Christian Recovery Coalition]   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/"> http://MauiHistorian.blogspot.com/</a>    [current blog posts]   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.drbob.info/"> http://www.DrBob.info/</a>   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://dickb-blog.com/"> http://DickB-Blog.com/</a>  [older blog posts]   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.anewwayout.com/"> http://www.ANewWayOut.com/</a>   They may also be found on Amazon.com (<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8m3c2t">http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8m3c2t</a>) and on many other sites graciously supplied by helpful AAs and Christian supporters�thousands of them.   But voluminous reporting is phasing out in the newspaper industry, in the book-publishing industry, and now even in the Internet field. Is it being replaced? No. It�s there and increasing in volume. But folks are switching to cell phones, blackberries, social networks, Facebook, YouTube, forums, chat rooms, and all the rest. But they can�t hear or see or absorb much of the truth with a single Tweet.   We believe there is an emerging and better approach. And we are going to be a part of it. The approach is for us to include in our publishing efforts Tweets for you to follow via Twitter.   What We Will Begin to Do   As the young bucks (Dick B. and Ken B.) on Maui learn new tricks, we will begin to make available Tweets for those who want the convenience of short lead-ins to longer communications.   When We Will Start   Now! And we ask your patience, kindness, and support while we learn and try to serve�keeping in mind that it is our heavenly Father who needs to be sought for wisdom as to how to more effectively serve Him and others.   Happy 2010 and Tweet, Tweet, Twitter!   Dick B.'s email: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:DickB@DickB.com"> DickB@DickB.com</a>   Dick B.'s main web site: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>   Gloria Deo</div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Are There Two A.A.�s?

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:43:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Are There Two A.A.�s? <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> Are There Two A.A.�s?   Dick B. � 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved   Present-day AAs�members of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous�certainly can�t be divided into two A.A.�s or ten A.A.�s. At least not the AAs that I met in April of 1986 when I entered the rooms. Nor the AAs I have fellowshipped with over the past 23 years. Nor the AAs I have met at International Conventions, regional conventions, gatherings like the �Spring Fling,� Big Book Seminars, Dr. Bob�s Home in Akron, the Wilson House in Vermont, the Snyder retreats in many states, the Roman Catholic retreat for AAs that I led in a monastery several years back, or just the plain old �meetings� that go on continually in communities wherever I go. The people differ. The behavior differs. The groups differ. But the doors are open to all who want to stop drinking.   Is all this just na�vet�? Not on your life. A.A. and its eager AAs fit my needs just fine as I came in, got a sponsor, had my seizures, spent time in treatment, spent time in the V.A. psych ward, even spent time in prison, learned about the Big Book, learned how to take and take others through the Twelve Steps, and finally discovered that�in the early days of A.A.�it was all about God. And, for me, it still is. No matter what others may do or say or think. I have found plenty of support for this position in the history of A.A., the contents of A.A.'s Big Book, and the astonishing successes of the 1930�s that put A.A. on the map. I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ that He played a role in the whole founding and course of A.A.�s program, and enabled me to find a new life that rested on the truths I found in the Bible. Nobody, just nobody, can drive a wedge that separates us drunks merely because of intolerance or variety or diversity. Not even those who claim we are heretics, cult members, on the path to destruction, or lacking according to their doctrinal viewpoints.   The truth that I have observed is that there are not two, but dozens, of different types of A.A. gatherings; but all would probably deny that they belong to some separate organization from the gathering next door. Today, the A.A. Traditions still declare that any two AAs meeting for purposes of sobriety constitute an A.A. meeting. And today there are so many different shapes and sizes of these meetings than one can hardly simmer them down to two in number. Or 20. Or 100.   Let�s take a quick look at some of the types of programs that have claimed A.A. affiliation through the years since A.A.'s founding in June 1935. First, there was the original Akron A.A. �Christian Fellowship� program which Bill W. and Dr. Bob began developing during the summer of 1935. A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob said concerning the �basic ideas� of the early A.A. Program:   We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book.   (See the A.A. General Service Conference-approved pamphlet, The Co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 14.) Here are the seven points of the highly-successful, early Akron A.A. program summarized by Frank Amos and published on page 131 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers: �         An alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that he must never drink anything with alcohol in it. �         He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope. �         Not only must he want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse to work with him. �         He must have devotions every morning�a �quiet time� of prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding �         He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions. �         It is important, but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and form both a social and a religious comradeship. Important, but not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">1</a>   Second, there was the program Bill W. incorporated into the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (the �Big Book�) published in April 1939. According to Bill W., God was in the  principles. By 1939, Bill had fashioned his own program primarily from his conferences with Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., and hence mainly from the Oxford Group�s 28 life-changing principles. Then, just before the Big Book was published in April 1939, there was a controversy and a compromise that resulted in a program's being codified in the Big Book that no longer required a belief in �the Lord� who had �been so wonderful to� Bill W. �curing� him of �this terrible disease.� (See page 191 of Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., for Bill W.'s statement; and see pages 166-67 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A., for a detailed discussion of the controversy and the compromise.)   No sooner was the Big Book published in April 1939 than Dr. Bob's sponsee, Clarence S., fashioned a highly-successful program in Cleveland. Concerning the Cleveland program, DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers quotes Clarence S. on page 261 as follows:   �. . . 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. . . .�   Clarence's biographer, Mitchell K., makes the following comment about the Cleveland program on page 108 of How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio:   Two years after the publication of the book [i.e., of Alcoholics Anonymous in April 1939], Clarence made a survey of all the members in Cleveland. He concluded that, by keeping most of the �old program,� including the Four Absolutes and the Bible, ninety-three percent of those surveyed had maintained uninterrupted sobriety.   The early Cleveland A.A. program was certainly about God, as an examination of the Cleveland Central Bulletin issues for the period quickly disclose. Again, nobody was claiming this was a non-A.A. program. In fact, as the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age states on pages 21-22:   . . . y then [i.e., mid-to-late 1940] Cleveland had about thirty groups and several hundred members. . . . Yes, Cleveland's results were of the best. Their results were in fact so good, and A.A.'s membership elsewhere was so small, that many a Clevelander really thought A.A. had started there in the first place.   Beginning around January 1940, Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia worked together on some new and very brief procedures for alcoholic patients during the short patient stays at St. Thomas Hospital; and reportedly some 5,000 patients were led through those procedures. But nobody has claimed the St. Thomas five-to-seven-day hospital stay produced a new or different A.A.   Then�during Bill�s long years of tremendous depression�all sorts of approaches sprang into view. There was the work of Richmond Walker. There was the work of Father Ralph Pfau. There was the work of Ed Webster. There were the four pamphlets that Dr. Bob encouraged AA of Akron to publish. There was finally�after Dr. Bob and his wife Anne were dead�the turning over of the Society to its membership and the publication of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. But nobody claimed that any of these constituted the first, second, tenth, or unnumbered A.A. Fellowship. A.A. changed. The fellowship changed in composition. But AAs were still AAs. And they still are. One can attend meetings anywhere in the United States and Canada, and believe he is in an A.A. meeting. And many Aas that I have communicated with have made it clear that A.A. is still A.A. in England, Sweden, Australia, Japan, and Canada. In fact, the only two A.A.�s that I know of seem to exist in Mexico, but I�ll leave that to other reporters.   What�s the point?   The point is that as A.A. grew from the original, highly-successful group of 40 pioneers as of November 1937, hordes thereafter poured into and out of A.A. At the national/international level, A.A.�s corporate structure itself became protective of its copyrights, trademarks, symbols, and �Traditions.� This �protection� has been preserved by an international structure that is not even directly answerable to the garden variety of drunk who attends meetings in jails, hospitals, rehabs, treatment centers, and A.A. meetings. But A.A. is still A.A., no matter how much rigidity human beings try to impose.   The more commentators try to divide A.A. into this or that category, the more they distort the composition of this basically unorganized group of drunks who come into the rooms in unbelievably bad shape. A group of drunks who�if they really try, and, if they really seek God�s help�can achieve a victory of sobriety and new life that they never believed possible. Some critics say that if AAs mention the Bible or God, they will get drunk. Others say alcoholics should find help elsewhere because they can�t find Jesus in A.A. Some say A.A. is religious. Others say it is not religious. And still others say it is �spiritual but not religious.� But it�s still A.A., whatever they choose to label it.   No, there are not two A.A.�s. But today there are tens of thousands in A.A. who have differing criticisms, differing viewpoints, even different types of �programs.� But most of us don�t even know about these when we first climb on board. We just welcome the love, friendship, and service that surround us; and we pay very little attention to those who are climbing the ladders of authority, but not really governing anybody.   I suppose you could say that �Give me liberty, or give me death� does not describe A.A. as such. But I also think you can say, �I didn�t want to die; so perhaps I�ll give A.A. a try.� I did! I have no regrets. It gave me an opportunity to help people who would never have crossed my path nor received even a nod if I hadn�t met them in A.A. and hadn�t known from my own experience just how much they were hurting and willing to grab on to an outstretched hand.   <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:dickb@dickb.com"> dickb@dickb.com</a>; <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.dickb.com</a>   Gloria Deo   <div style="mso-element:footnote-list">  <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn1"> 1          DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc, 1980), 128-36�especially 131.</div> </div> </div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Three Important Dick B. Resources for 2010

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:37:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Three Important Dick B. Resources for 2010 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> Three Important Dick B. Resources for 2010 and How to Bless Others with Them   1.      Please check out our new, regularly-updated blog, �The Real 'Power' Behind Alcoholics Anonymous.� (<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/">http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/)</a>   2.      The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., by Dick B. and Ken B. (2010) is about to be published and may be purchased by using the �Donate� button in the center column of the front page of my main web site, <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com</a>. This will enable you to plan, organize, and disseminate your own Christian Recovery outreach. It has all the latest historical information you can utilize: Buy it here: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/"> www.DickB.com.</a>   3.      If you would like to help us carry the facts about early A.A. history, here is a link that will enable you to feature our banner on your website, blogs, Facebook releases, and other dissemination outlets. <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.dickb.com/bannerpage.shtml"> http://www.dickb.com/bannerpage.shtml</a>   God Bless, Dick B. <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:dickb@dickb.com"> dickb@dickb.com</a>; February, 2010</div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: Three Important Dick B. Resources for 2010

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:26:00 GMT

<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns="<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"&gt">http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"&gt</a>; <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <title>New Page 1</title> <style>  </style> </head> <body> <hr> <div class="Section1"> Three Important Dick B. Resources for 2010 and How to Bless Others with Them   1.      Please check out our new, regularly-updated blog, The Real 'Power' Behind Alcoholics Anonymous. (<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="<a href="http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/">http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/)</a></p&gt">http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/">http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/)</a></p&gt</a>;   2.      The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., by Dick B. and Ken B. (2010) is about to be published and may be purchased by using the Donate button in the center column of the front page of my main web site, <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="<a href="http://www.dickb.com/"&gt">http://www.dickb.com/"&gt</a>; www.DickB.com</a>. This will enable you to plan, organize, and disseminate your own Christian Recovery outreach. It has all the latest historical information you can utilize: Buy it here: <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="<a href="http://www.dickb.com/"&gt">http://www.dickb.com/"&gt</a>; www.DickB.com.</a>   3.      If you would like to help us carry the facts about early A.A. history, here is a link that will enable you to feature our banner on your website, blogs, Facebook releases, and other dissemination outlets. <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="<a href="http://www.dickb.com/bannerpage.shtml"&gt">http://www.dickb.com/bannerpage.shtml"&gt</a>; <a href="http://www.dickb.com/bannerpage.shtml</a></p&gt">http://www.dickb.com/bannerpage.shtml</a></p&gt</a>;   God Bless, Dick B. <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="<a href="mailto:dickb@dickb.com&quot">mailto:dickb@dickb.com&quot</a>;> <a href="mailto:dickb@dickb.com&lt">dickb@dickb.com&lt</a>;/a>; February, 2010</div> <hr> </body> </html>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: We Strongly Support This Saved Life Bicycle Trip

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:14:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: We Strongly Support This Saved Life Bicycle Trip <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> <img border="0" src="http://www.dickb.com/images/saved-life.jpg" width="468" height="82"> We are launching a nationwide homeless benefit ride titled � Coast 2 Coast: A Mile In Their Shoes� from the Jacksonville Beach Pier, Jacksonville, Florida to the Santa Monica Pier, outside of Los Angeles, California. A journey consisting of approximately 2,800 miles. Did I mention that I am doing this on a bicycle? The purpose of this benefit ride is: <ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <li class="MsoNormal">To raise awareness of the plight of our homeless, addicted, and hopeless brothers and sisters that many in society perceive as invisible and forgotten.</li> <li class="MsoNormal">To promote the documented effectiveness of the Christian Recovery effort to fight addictions, the leading cause of chronic homelessness.</li> <li class="MsoNormal">Remind the Body of Christ to get back to the basics of a gentle, compassionate, and a caring attitude. This is the essence of living a �Saved Life�. Are you living it?</li> </ul> This awareness will be brought to many major cities, villages, and towns by public speaking, press releases, and social media during the course of this trip, beginning on March 20th 2010.  We are here to offer light to the lost, encouragement for the weary, and hope for the hurting. We are Saved Life, a registered non-profit organization. Our mission towards Christian Recovery efforts is very simple: (1) To remind all in the recovery arena of the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible have long played in the deliverance and healing of alcoholics, addicts, and those with life-controlling problems. Strong examples can be found in the evangelist-revivals, rescue missions, Salvation Army, YMCA, Young People�s Christian Endeavor Society and many years later in the original Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship. (2) God, His Son Jesus Christ and the Bible can play the same vital recovery role today among those who need, want, and are willing to receive God�s help. (3) Christian leaders and those in the recovery arena (which includes the homeless, imprisoned, at-risk, veterans, military, hospitalized, in treatment or rehabs, in therapy, and in churches, recovery fellowships, 12 Step fellowships, and Christian recovery groups) need to be trained in their specific circles to learn, listen, publish, disseminate, host, support, and encourage men and women to rise up and move out in love and service just as the early Christians did as reported in the Book of Acts. The message we present here is that the lost, sick, weary, and burdened, who are all children of God, our fellow brothers and sisters, can stand strong with and in the Power and Love of God as they strive to overcome alcoholism, substance abuse, and other life-controlling problems and self-destructive behaviors. Also, that I (Jason J. Day) have done so! Please visit our website at <a style="color: #000080; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.savedliferide.com/"> www.savedliferide.com</a> or email us at <a style="color: #000080; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="mailto:info@savedliferide.com"> info@savedliferide.com</a> for more information or to invite Jason to speak at your Church, organization, or business. Thank you for your prayers and support. See ya on the road!</div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: The Real "Power" Behind AA

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:42:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: The Real "Power" Behind AA <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> To enable friends to see my newest articles more easily, beginning in 2010, I have begun posting my articles as I write them on my new Blog: �The Real 'Power' Behind AA.� Here's the URL address for my Blog:   <a style="color: navy; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/"> http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/</a></div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>

Dick B.'s FYI Messages: A Talk on SAMUEL MOOR SHOEMAKER

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:44:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header"> Dick B.'s FYI Messages: A Talk on SAMUEL MOOR SHOEMAKER <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <hr> <div class="Section1"> It is a pleasure to invite you all to read the attached talk just given by Dr. Karen A. Plavan at Sam Shoemaker's second and last major church. We owe such a debt to Karen that I can't cover it all in this message. However, here are some points: (1) Karen holds a Ph.D. degree and is a professor of counselling and chemical dependency at University of Pennsylvania.  (2) She is an adjunct professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. (3) She is co-chair of the Board of Oasis Center in Pittsburgh. (4) She arranged three different talks by me in Pittsburgh and also was one of the speakers at our Second Nationwide A.A. History Conference in Delaware. (5) Karen was instrumental in my publication of the second edition of the Shoemaker book--New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A.; and she joined the daughter of Sam Shoemaker and the widow of Shoemaker's assistant minister in writing a Foreword to the book. (6) On more than one occasion, Karen arranged for me to speak to her students and others in Pittsburgh. (7) She serves as one of our leadership advisors on the new and fast-growing International Christian Recovery Coalition (<a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single" href="http://www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com">www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com</a>). (8) And it was she who arranged with Dr. Lewis,  rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh to establish and house the Shoemaker Room there--to which benefactors enabled me to donate and place there a large collection of Rev. Sam Shoemaker's books, articles, sermons, correspondence, and other historical data. Aloha and love to my good friend Karen A. Plavan, Ph.D. Dick B.   �A Talk on SAMUEL MOOR SHOEMAKER� Sunday, January 31, 2010 by Karen A. Plavan, Ph.D. Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, PA     Good Morning.  Every morning Sam took time for quiet prayer and meditation.   In the gospel, Jesus went to a deserted place to pray.  Sam too knew the importance of taking Quiet Time for himself -- time for prayer � talking to God and for meditation � time to listen to God.   I am grateful to The Rev. Dr. Harold T. Lewis and The Rev. Walter Szymanski for inviting me to speak.   It is an honor to be here today to celebrate with you this first feast day proclaiming the 12th Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church, the Rev. Samuel Moor Shoemaker a �Holy Man.�   What does it mean to be called a Holy Man or a Saint?  St. Paul declared that anyone in Christ is a saint.  We are all called to be saints.  Saints are living people among us; sometimes we may not notice them.  Some of us may have some preconceived notions about who is a saint. You may believe that you have to be perfect to be a saint.  If this were true, we would have no saints.   A Sunday school teacher asked her students the question, �Who is a saint?�  One student looked up at the beautiful stained glass windows and said, �A saint is someone who lets God�s light shine through them.�   And this was eminently true of Sam -- the Light shined through Sam to help thousands, millions of people around the world to find God.  Sam was a Life Changer.   Bardwell Smith said:  �Sam was deeply in touch with the living God and because of this, hundreds of lives came alive to the same experience � such is part of what constitutes the vocation of sainthood.�   Norman Vincent Peale said:  �I have known many men in the ministry who have been quite outstanding in their effectiveness.  �  But no one excelled Sam Shoemaker in sheer spiritual depth and persuasive power.�   Who is Sam Shoemaker?  If he were alive today, he would most likely ask you to tell him your story.  He then would be very interested in knowing if you had turned your will and your life over to God.  If you hadn�t, he would say �First things First,� and would ask you to get on your knees and do so.   During the coffee this morning, Charles Jarrett recounted a personal story of how Sam Shoemaker helped him to get in touch with the Power of God.  As you could see, Sam was a Life Changer.   Who was Sam Shoemaker?  Sam Shoemaker conceived of his role in the church as three fold � as a pastor, priest and preacher.  Newsweek named him one of the ten best preachers in America in 1955.  He was also a counselor, coach, mentor, evangelist, a radio and TV host.   But, most importantly, Sam was a �Life Changer.�   Sam was born on December 27, 1893.    He had a sister who was 8 years older, yet he felt like an only child.  He spent his summers at his family home, Burnside, 10 miles north of Baltimore.  Sam loved nature and found God in the woods at Burnside.  According to his mother, he was a witty, spontaneous joy to be around.   He attended St. George�s School in Newport, RI and graduated from Princeton University where he made a decision to enter the ministry as his life vocation.  Sam studied for ministry at General Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1922.   After college, Sam visited China on a �Princeton in Peking� project.   It was there in January 1918, that Sam met The Rev. Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman, a Lutheran minister, Penn State Chaplain, and YMCA secretary.   In 1921, Buchman started a movement called: �A First Century Christian Fellowship,� later to be called the �Oxford Group,� a Christian movement that attracted thousands of people in the US and Europe during the 20s and 30s.   Frank Buchman said the only sane people in an insane world are those controlled by God or those that surrendered their self will for God�s will.  In 1938, the Oxford Group changed its name to Moral Rearmament and is still alive in their mountain home in Caux, Switzerland.   Sam felt that this meeting (with Buchman) was the greatest turning point in his life.  It was here that he was first introduced to the Four Absolutes � honesty, purity, unselfishness and love, the essence of the Sermon on the Mount.  These were to be the yardsticks or targets by which he would measure his life.   Sam liked to keep it simple.  Immediately, he began applying these principles to himself.   He surrendered his life to God�s will.  He said, �God if you want me to stay in China, I will.�  (Deep down, he did not want to stay in China.)  Sam was honest with himself and with Buchman.  He also wrote a letter of amends to his father asking for his forgiveness.   The result was that Sam felt a life change in himself.   He felt forgiven and free.  And here was the real beginning of his life ministry � a Life Changer.  He then wanted to pass on to others what he had received.   In Sam�s first book published in 1923 �Realizing Religion� he describes the discontentment, unhappiness, disconnectedness often felt by men and called it �a spiritual malady� which results when people are estranged from God.  Sam said: �We were meant to be God�s companions.� He said that sin or character defects separate us from the love of God and that honesty is the first step in knowing God.   Sam began to travel with Frank throughout the US and abroad and it was on a trip with Frank in Egypt in 1924 that Sam received a call to Calvary Church in New York City.  He began his ministry in 1925 and ministered there for 26 years.  Not wasting any time, he opened the Calvary Rescue Mission a year later.  It was here that Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) began his spiritual journey.   AA was formed nine years later in 1935.  AA is a fellowship of men and women who have a common desire to stop drinking.  It was founded by two alcoholics Bill Wilson, a stock broker from New York and Bob Smith, a Doctor from Akron, Ohio.  At the Calvary Rescue Mission, Bill Wilson, an atheist was born again in 1926.  He visited the church even though he did not attend regularly.   Recalling Sam, Bill said:  �I remember that first day I caught sight of him.  It was a Sunday service at his church.  I was still rather gun shy and diffident about churches.  I can still see him standing there before the lectern.  His utter honesty, his tremendous forthrightness struck me deep.  I shall never forget it.�   Sam took a liking to Bill and asked him to help other alcoholics.  Bill Wilson took on the challenge.  A year later, Bill joined Sam in a processional from Calvary Episcopal Church, NY to Madison Square. Sam led the group in full vestment as people witnessed as to what God had done for them.  A reporter for the New York Herold quoted Sam:  �We fix flats, or rather Christ fixes them.  If any of you are flat tires running on your own rims, come with us and Christ, and let us help you pray.�   Sam married Helen Smith, the daughter of the late Hon. H. Alexander Smith, US Senator from NJ in 1930 and they had two children.  It was during this time, the late �20s and early �30s,  that Sam became very active in the Oxford Group,  and Calvary House served as a US headquarters for the Group.  He even took a sabbatical in 1932 to travel for the Oxford Group   Sam had a genuine appreciation for those who struck out against the establishment.  He also had a deep sensitivity to the unrest within the church and in the world.  It was difficult for Sam to call the church to task for failing to be the �Body of Christ.�   Sam believed that creative social change came primarily from changing individuals -- the same work done in the Oxford Group.  And Sam considered this personal work with individuals to be the most important work in his entire ministry. He was a Life Changer!   He believed that every parish should build small groups for deepening the spiritual life of the individual, and at Calvary Church in NY, he had a meeting for alcoholics on Tuesdays and an Oxford Group meeting on Thursdays.  Both groups used the same principles:  The four moral absolutes � honesty, purity, unselfishness and love combined with the 5 C�s � Confidence, Confession, Conviction, Conversion, and Continuance, were the foundation of both groups.    Sam referred to working these 5 C�s or steps as �Soul Surgery.�  He said it all starts by making a decision to turn one�s life over to God.  This decision can be found in the 3rd step of AA today.    The first step � Confidence --  was all about having faith and confidence that others would keep your confidence and had confidence in you.  This is the cornerstone or the spiritual foundation of AA today.   It is called anonymity.   The second step -- Confession called for absolute honesty and was translated into Steps 4 & 5 of AA.   The third step � Conviction called for a conscious realization of the seriousness of our sins or defects of character.  Sam would often say:  �Is there any apology that you won�t make?  Make it now!�  This step is now Steps 6 & 7 of AA.   The fourth step � Conversion is Choice to use free will to surrender one�s will over to God�s will, the 3rd step of AA.   Lastly, the fifth step � Continuance -- which required one to help the next person change their life.  The idea of continuing to carry the message and this word is found in the 10th, 11th and 12th steps of AA.  One continues to take personal inventory, Continues to watch for resentments, Continues to improve one�s conscious contact with God, Continues to carry the message to help others, Continues to do this for a lifetime, and Continues to grow in God�s Grace.   So at Calvary Church in New York, both the alcoholic group and Oxford Group used the same principles -- the four moral absolutes and the 5 C�s -- which influenced the writing of the 12 steps of AA.  Sam said this basic approach was fundamental to anyone with problems.   And he added with humorous insight, �for everyone has a problem, is a problem or lives with a problem.�   Billy Graham called Sam Shoemaker �a giant among men.� He said:  �I doubt that any man in our generation has made a greater impact for God on the Christian world, than did Samuel Shoemaker�� And nowhere did he make this impact greater than his influence on the writings of the 12 steps of AA.   Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson are the two best known founders of AA.  Bill asked Sam to write the 12 steps, Sam declined.  Sam told Bill that the steps should be written by a alcoholic and that Bill was the one to do it.  Bill closeted himself in the book-lined study at Calvary House with Sam, and the two men hammered out the basic ideas for the Big Book of AA.  In addition, Bill submitted his Big Book manuscript to Sam in advance of its publication in 1939.  Humbly Sam would deny any involvement at all in AA and would not take any credit for the creation of AA.  However, we now know better.   Bill Wilson wrote of Sam Shoemaker:  �Every river has a wellspring at its source.  AA is like that too.  In the beginning, there was a spring which poured out of a clergyman, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker� He began to teach us the principles and attitudes that afterwards came to full flower in AA�s 12 Steps for Recovery.  The streams of understanding and love that were gathered together by God in 1935 to create AA will always be the source of our infinite wonder, inspiration and gratitude.  Some may say, but Sam is not a stream, he is just a great man!  But we of AA know better.  We know he is both.�    �He channelled to the few of us who then saw and heard him, the message, the understanding, the loving concern, and therefore the Grace that enabled our small band and all the countless thousands who followed afterward to walk in the Consciousness of God � to live and to love again, as never before.�   �Sam passed on to us the spiritual keys by which so many of us have since been liberated.�   In AA, only members of AA speak at conventions.  However, Sam was invited to speak at two conventions.  The first was in St. Louis in 1955. Here Bill Wilson wrote the following:  �The important thing is this:  the early AA got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgement of character defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups and directly from Sam Shoemaker, their former leader in the US, and from nowhere else.�   �AA owes a debt of timeless gratitude for all that God sent us through Sam and his friends in the days of AA�s infancy.�   At the 1960 AA convention in Long Beach, CA Bill said of Sam:  �The 12 Steps of AA simply represented an attempt to state in more detail, breadth, and depth, what we had been taught � primarily by you. Without this, there could have been nothing � nothing at all�  Though I wish the co-founder tag had never been hitched to any of us, I have no hesitancy in adding your name to the list.�  �Don�t let anyone ever tell you that I founded AA.  If it wasn�t for Sam Shoemaker, AA would never have been born.   One day the 12 steps of Recovery as they are used to help transform the lives of people with all types of addictions may be viewed as the largest spiritual movement of our lifetime.  And that, perhaps, is Sam Shoemaker�s greatest legacy � as the spiritual director or co-founder of this spiritual movement that has changed millions of lives.  Sam was a Life Changer indeed.   Sam was called to Pittsburgh in 1952 and was known for his ministries here at Calvary Episcopal Church.  One of his ministries was to young married couples in the church.  Sam could talk them into doing practically anything.  Sam would say �get changed, get together and get going!�   Sam was also known to take people to the top of Mt. Washington to pray over the City of Pittsburgh, a tradition still today.  Sam prayed that �one day Pittsburgh would be as famous for God as it was for steel.�   Sam Shoemaker was the �Pittsburgh Man of the Year� in 1956. He had a radio show on KDKA Radio from 1952-1961, and an Episcopal Hour called: �The Art of Living.�  He started the Pittsburgh Experiment where he challenged people to experiment in faith and to pray with a prayer partner for 30 days and to witness the results.   Upon his retirement in 1962, he said that the growth of this ministry was the high point of the year.   After Sam left Pittsburgh, he continued his writings and broadcast ministries.  He was influential in bringing together national leaders to share their experiences, which  resulted in the President�s Prayer breakfast in Washington, DC and other prayer breakfasts around the country.   Sam said:   �My job is to reach as many people as I can for Christ before I die, and that will be my testimony.  I haven�t the time or strength to try to explain to the people in the structure what I am doing.  I am too busy engaged in doing it.�     Two months before Sam died, he wrote:  �I have by no means, done what I should have done with all that I have been given� It�s been a great run�I�m thankful for it and for all the people who helped to make it so.�   Often people ask me why I work with individuals and families with addictions.  I do this for two reasons.  First God called me to do this work.  Secondly, in today�s reading from Isaiah, it says: �your children have fainted, and lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net.�  This is true today; young people are on every street corner in the net of addictions, trying to get out.  Every year an average of 250 young people die from addictions in Allegheny County.   Like Sam and along with two other Episcopal clergy here in Pittsburgh -- The Rev. Walter Szymanski and The Rev. Dr. Jay Geisler, we are all called to work in this ministry at the Oasis Recovery Center. We stand at the door to help people find recovery.  Standing by the door is where Sam Shoemaker felt most comfortable � helping people find God and to change their lives. Sam was a Life Changer.   His wife Helen said:  �He knew if he stood by the door and remained willing to reach out to men and women involved in even the most sorid of sins � inevitably he would be given supernatural grace and power with which to help them.�  We too will be given God�s Grace if we stand by the door. God calls all of us to be saints in spite of our brokenness.  God calls all of us to let our light shine.  What door has God called you to stand by and to let your light shine through?   I think it is appropriate to end the sermon by reading a poem that Sam wrote entitled, �I Stand by the Door.�  I asked Dr. David Bandler, like Sam a Princeton University alumnus, and a Board Member of The Oasis Recovery Center, to read �I Stand by the Door.�         Burns, Dick.  New Light on Alcoholism � God, Sam Shoemaker, and AA.   Hawaii:  Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1994.   Shoemaker, Helen Smith.  I Stand by the Door.  New York:  Harper & Row, 1967.   Shoemaker, Sam.  Realizing Religion.  New York:  Association Press, 1923.   Shoemaker, Sam.  Confident Faith.  New York:  Fleming H. Revell,  1932.  </div> <hr> Powered by <a href="http://dadamailproject.com" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Dada Mail 3.0.0</a> Copyright © 1999-2008, <a href="http://dadamailproject.com/justin" target="_blank" style="font-size:10px;font-family:Verdana,Arial">Simoni Creative</a>. </div> </div>