Preview of Dick B. Christian Recovery
Radio Interview, June 22 of Dale Marsh, Recovery Pastor, Oroville Church of the
Nazarene, California
Dick B.
Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Dale Marsh is a former Oroville, California businessman. He
is married, has two children, and used to run a Tile business that sported
facades on some Sacramento, California landmarks. But Dale and his family are
devoted Christians. Dale, on the other hand, had his rough days with
alcoholism. But he prevailed over the malady a good many years ago. He dived
into Alcoholics Anonymous. And he also heavily aligned himself with his
Christian church. But there was more to it than that.
Dale believed he had a calling to become a pastoral
counselor. And Dale put the same energy into that project as he had done with
his drinking and his church. He closed his business. He persuaded his pastor to
let him begin working with drunks and bringing them to God through Jesus
Christ, but in the backdrop of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and of
the Fellowship itself. And he has sponsored many an AA in Christian recovery in
A.A.
But he did not quit there. Dale petitioned his pastor to let
him shoot for the church staff and the position of recovery pastor—yet to be established. In the
Christian recovery fellowship field, he made about the best choices a novice zealot
could make. He traveled to Southern California and met with two young, married,
Christian recovery leaders at two very large and dynamic churches.
The first church was Rock Church in San Diego. It has a huge
following. It has a recovery pastor. But its intense recovery work through
church and 12 Steps is headed by David Powers, a young, married, Christian
businessman. David has fashioned a Christian recovery program that includes
orientation of each newcomer to recovery, Bible study, A.A. meetings, church
attendance, probable residential Christian living quarters, a recovery bonfire
gathering each week, daily Christian fellowship, and daily texting among the
group of meditation thoughts and reflections based on the early A.A. devotional—the
Upper Room. Dale had gone to the
right place to learn. But David Powers suggested he needed to talk with a Dick
B. he’d never met. And not one to waste time, David Powers put in a phone call
to my son Ken and me and found we were on a speaking trip in Southern
California. Dale and his wife promptly met with us to learn what we knew and
could suggest to implement his ideas.
The second church was The Crossing in Costa Mesa. Its
recovery pastor is Randy Moraitis. And Randy conducts a dynamite meeting each
Friday which brings in recovering alcoholics and addicts from treatment
programs, churches, probation officials, and sponsors. It goes by the name Lifelines. And large crowds of largely
young newcomers flood the place to hear top notch speakers—who usually cover
one of the Twelve Steps in company with their particular Christian treatment
approach. And I have had the honor of speaking there twice. There is much more.
But Dale traveled from our meeting to a contact with Randy Moraitis. And Randy
also told him he needed to talk with this Dick B.—something he had just done.
Dale returned to Oroville. He started leading a Christian
recovery fellowship called Serenity Group. It reached out into the community to
make alcoholics, addicts, Twelve Step people, and miserable wanderers welcome. To
get them marching to the AA tune and also to blossom as born again children of
God. Dale started training for ordination. And he started on his road to
becoming a licensed substance abuse counselor. He became a participant in our International
Christian Recovery Coalition. He acquired our Christian recovery books and
classes and began showing them to the affected and afflicted. He sought out
leaders in other churches, urging them to take up the cause of Christian
recovery in company with Twelve Step recovery. He has attended almost every
conference and workshop we have conducted, and organized some of his own. They
were in Oroville, Chico, Auburn, Livermore, Brentwood, Costa Mesa, Westminster,
and wherever else he could meet with leaders. Dale is a hands-on 24/7 recovery
pastor, counselor, sponsor, organizer, student, and also a member of the
Speakers Bureau of our Coalition. He has been a speaker at a number of our
California conferences, and he has been 100% enthused about the mission of our
Coalition as it is expressed in www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com.
Dale is a Christian recovery leader who sprang into action,
enhanced his A.A. skills, his church skills, his sponsoring skills, and his
outreach talents. And he will be talking about these in his interview.
Gloria Deo
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