Would you like some thoroughly documented information on the Christian upbringing, beliefs, and training received by A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob as youngsters in Vermont? Well you can see it and hear it at The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference in Portland Maine of September 6-7, 2013. Bill W. and Dr. Bob were both given extensive Christian training by their parents and grandparents--all of whom were strong Congregationalists. Bill W. and Dr. Bob both attended Congregational churches and Sunday schools as youngsters in Vermont--Bill at East Dorset Congregational Church, and then Manchester Congregational Church in Vermont; Bob Smith at North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury Vermont. Both youngsters were active in the Young Men's Christian Association. Bob Smith and his parents were active in Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. Bob Smith attended the Congregational St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johnsbury Vermont; and Bill W. attended Burr and Burton Seminary and Norwich University -- the former at Manchester, Vermont. At their respective academies, both men attended required Congregational church services and Bible studies, Bill W. took a four year Bible study course. Both men attended daily chapel with its sermons, reading of Scripture, hymns, and prayer sessions. Bill was president of Burr and Burton YMCA, and his girl friend Bertha Bamford was president of Burr and Burton YWCA; and the couple attended "Y" functions together. And, now, after recent extensive research and travel to Vermont, we know how Bill W. frequently studied the Bible with his grandfather Griffith and with his friend Mark Whalon. Then, as Bill moved forward in high school, he became good friends with Ebby Thacher who attended the same seminary and had had extensive Christian training and Bible study in his younger years. There is lots more. Come to The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference in Portland Maine in September and ask questions, discuss facts, share your own knowledge, and hear experienced, long-recovered Christian A.A. and 12 Step leaders and workers tell you how they are conducting Christian recovery studies in their own areas and venues. dickb@dickb.com, www.dickb.com
Friday, August 30, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
How You Can Learn and Use "Old School" Akron A.A. History and Accomplish in Recovery Today
Alcoholics Anonymous History
What
Learning "Old School” Akron A.A.’s Program, Technique, and Resources Can
Accomplish Today
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
[Do you want to know
only a few things about A.A.? Or would you like to learn, study, and apply ALL
of A.A. today? If it is the latter, here’s what you can do right now].
About Our "Old School” Akron A.A.
What “Old School”
Akron A.A. Is Not Today. Because It Is:
Not for "reforming,” "universalizing," or
"revising" A.A., its Steps, or its Traditions.
Not desirous of turning, or aiming to turn A.A. into a
Christian Fellowship today.
Not suggesting exclusion of atheists, agnostics,
unbelievers, nonsense god worshippers, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, or
those who have no religious beliefs or affiliations.
Not teaching or promoting special recovery classes, special Christian
conferences, alleged "basics," or reform literature.
Not ignoring A.A. and 12-Step Conference-approved
literature.
Not changing A.A. or its Conference-approved literature.
Not advocating your leaving A.A. or your Twelve-Step
Fellowship in favor of some church, unaffiliated church group, religious group,
anti-A.A. group, Christian fellowship, recovery group, therapeutic treatment
plan, or splinter group.
Not proposing a return to the life-changing program of “A
First Century Christian Fellowship” known as the Oxford Group and later as
Moral Re-Armament.
Not approving or carrying out efforts to condemn, ridicule,
insult, stifle, or prohibit some belief, religion, Bible, church, liturgy,
religious literature, and religious teaching that mentions something you don’t or
won’t like.
Not suggesting new therapies, treatment programs, rehabs, or
therapeutic communities
What “Old School”
Akron A.A. Advocates Are Trying to Enhance Your Recovery Today By Talking
About:
A program that respects and tolerates a belief or practice
within A.A. that advocates studying, learning, and applying the effective
facets of Akron A.A. and its Christian Fellowship founded in 1935; Bill W.’s “new
version” of the Twelve Steps in the Big Book, published in 1939; and the
primary purpose of both A.A. programs in helping the alcoholic who still
suffers—particularly the one or ones that want God’s help.
Learning, studying, respecting, and remembering our history
before we forget of just lose it.
Looking at real early A.A.–Pioneer A.A. of Akron–the group
Frank Amos described and summarized on page 131 of A.A. General Service
Conference-approved DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers.
Reading and absorbing the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, and particularly
the personal stories of the A.A. pioneers—most of which were removed from sight
and publication for decades.
Applying the language of “There is a Solution” which appears
to this day on page 25 of the latest edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Discovering how the first three AAs – Bill W., Dr. Bob, and
Bill D. – got sober, and how they did so before there were any Steps, Traditions,
Big Books, drunkalogs, or meetings like those today.
Hearing about the religious upbringing of Dr. Bob as a
youngster in Vermont, and how his “excellent training” in the Bible later was
applied in early A.A.—training involving belief in God, coming to Him through
Jesus Christ, Bible study, prayer meetings, hymns, sermons, Scripture reading,
church and Sunday school and Christian academy attendance, as well as Y.M.C.A. and
Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor participation.
Comparing to Dr. Bob’s religious training the very similar
religious training of Bill W. as a youngster in Vermont, and Bill’s attendance
at East Dorset Congregational Church and Sunday school, Manchester
Congregational Church, Burr and Burton Seminary, Norwich University, and the
other features of Bob’s upbringing mentioned above. Plus adding to it Bill W.’s
later decision to follow Dr. Silkworth’s advice about Jesus Christ the Great
Physician, and Bill’s trip to Calvary Rescue Mission in New York to accept
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at Calvary Mission in New York. Plus Bill’s writing
in his autobiography—“For sure I’d been born again.” Plus Bill’s decision in a
drunk and despairing condition to call on the Great Physician for help at Towns
Hospital. Plus Bill’s cry to God for help, the blazing extraordinary white
light that filled his hospital room, Bill’s sensing that he was on a mountain
top and felt the breeze of the Spirit, and concluded: “Bill, you are a free
man. This is the God of the Scriptures” Plus Bill W.’s conviction that he had
seen and heard from—the One whose presence he sensed in his hospital room.
Reading and learning what the first three AAs all wrote
about their cure of alcoholism, their individual church backgrounds, their
Bible study, and their desire to help others—epitomized by their statements
about their deliverance. Thus both Bill W. and A.A. Number Three said: “The
Lord has cured me of this terrible disease, and I just want to keep talking
about it and telling people” (Big Book, 4th ed., 191). And Dr. Bob
wrote at the end of his personal story on page 181: “Your Heavenly Father will
never let you down!”
Mastering the truth that the early Akron A.A. Pioneers
recovered when there were no Steps, no Traditions, no Big Books, and no
drunkalogs—while at the same time, conducting prayer meetings, Bible studies, Quiet
Times, and ceremonies leading members to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
This occurred when A.A., had no “nonsense gods” and idols, and no ridicule or
ostracism of those with differing religious views.
Defining the real pioneer Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship
program—the one which claimed a 75% success rate in Akron and spawned the
Cleveland A.A. program which produced a ninety-three percent success rate,
documented by Cleveland rosters, by DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers, and by Cleveland A.A. founder Clarence H.
Snyder.
Passing on to others A.A.'s own General Service
Conference-approved literature statements by its founders about Pioneer A.A.
See Big Book, 4th ed., pp. 181, 191.
Putting on a "new pair of glasses" that will
enable viewers to read and learn what early Akron A.A. "Spirituality"
really was.
A stentorian shout that early Akron A.A. was a Bible-based,
Christian fellowship that relied on God. And that present-day A.A. is currently
stating in pamphlets that a newcomer need not believe in anything at all, and
that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. In
short, today’s A.A. is not and will not become a Christian Fellowship. It is
simply a recovery fellowship peopled with thousands of Christians.
What the “Old-school”
Akron A.A. proponents today research, and urge fellow-members to learn and
respect as to:
Looking first to our Creator for healing, forgiveness, and
deliverance–just as Pioneers did, and just as present-day Conference-approved
literature does today as exemplified by Big Book, 4th edition’s
statement proclaims on page 25 that “There is a Solution” and that the Creator
is at the heart of it.
Looking in the Bible as the old-school Akron AAs did for our
Creator's will, promises, and commandments.
Avoiding "listening" to God today until and unless
(as the Akron A.A. pioneers did) one
sees in A.A. Conference-approved literature that the Big Book frequently speaks
explicitly about God and, twelve different times, asserts God, the Creator, is the “God of the Scriptures” mentioned
in the first verse of the Bible, and enabling the inevitable conclusion that
one does not “listen to,” cannot and does not reasonably speak to, and would
not—in sound mental condition--advocate for some light bulb, door knob, or
group of drunks as an object of worship, praise, and thanksgiving..
Avoiding “listening” (versus praying and communicating with
God, the Creator) until you have first established a relationship with Him as
His child, you've learned why AAs "surrendered" to Him by accepting Jesus
Christ as Savior, and you know why our founders looked to the Good Book for
instruction on who God is, who His Son is, what the Bible is, what it offers,
and what it says about prayer, "meditation," and obedience.
In fact, studying the Book of James, Jesus’s Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7), and 1 Corinthians 13 to find out why these
segments of the Bible were considered “absolutely essential’ to success in the
early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship program. See The James Club, www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml.
Abstaining from prattling about the "nonsense gods of
recovery"–higher powers, chairs, groups, rainbows, “good orderly
direction,” the Big Dipper, Gertrude, and something that is “spiritual, but not
religious.”.
Why? Because early Akron A.A. pioneers knew about and talked
only about the one true living Creator, Yahweh, who certainly had the “power”
that early AAs thought was necessary to
a cure. See Big Book, 4th ed., pp. 181, 191.
Reflections and Suggestions about “old school” pioneer Akron A.A. That
Could Help You!
Help you to add and utilize "Old School” Akron A.A. approaches
in today’s 12 Step programs. And teach you how and why it should be a primary
history teaching made available to those who choose God’s help today. And why
such information in no way constitutes making A.A. into a “Christian Fellowship.”
Something long abandoned after 1939 when A.A.’s Bill Wilson and three others (a
secretary, a Christian, and a man who wanted A.A. to be “irreligious”) decided
to call their deity “a power greater than ourselves” and/or “God as we
understood Him.”.
The “broad highway” of the Big Book does not lead to a
Christian Fellowship today. It is neither “inclusive” nor “exclusive” in that
realm. It enables Christians who are still suffering from alcoholism and addiction
to join others with the common objective of abstinence and new life.
Helpful Reflections about A.A.’s Diverse Recovery Arena
There is no real substitute for one-on-one sponsorship,
witnessing to those who still suffer, and fellowshipping with those who choose
not to drink and to change their lives for the better.
Remember, literally just about anyone can form a group, hold
a conference, start a class, buy tapes, and study some materials on Pioneer Akron
A.A.'s biblical roots and program.
Then he or she can put his recovery efforts into learning
the facts of A.A.—its origins, history, cofounders, the cofounders’
backgrounds, the way the founders got sober, the original Akron A.A. Christian
Fellowship—consisting of the seven-point summary, and at least sixteen
practices. See Stick with the Winners, http://mcaf.ee/s50mq.
Then, having learned about A.A.’s Big Book and other
principal General Service Conference-approved literature, about the biblical sources
of A.A.’s basic ideas, and about whence came the ideas for (1) the original
1935 program and later (2) Bill W.’s “new version of the program—the Twelve
Steps in the Big Book—published in 1939 and then changed many times over since
that time. See Alcoholics Anonymous: The
Original 1939 Edition With a 23-Page Introduction By Dick B., published by
Dover Publication, 2011.
Pass this information on to old-timers, newcomers, speakers,
leaders, groups, meetings, and conferences and anyone else inquiring about A.A.
But Note: Adequate A.A. Teaching Begins Only with Good Teachers, Good
Texts. Good Sponsors, and Good Speakers
Start with A.A.'s personal sponsorship idea. You learn. You
share and compare. Then serve.
There is no substitute for learning the facts first. Therefore,
start with A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature.
Master the Big Book, Twelve Steps, and the Frank Amos
Reports of 1938.
Read DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers for a sketch of what pioneer A.A. was really like.
Read A.A.’s Co-founders
pamphlet (Pamphlet P-53), particularly the excellent address by Dr. Bob.
Then learn the major Biblical roots of early Akron A.A.’s
Christian Fellowship: (1) The Bible, (2) Quiet Time, (3) Anne Smith’s Journal, (5)
The religious books early AAs read. (6) Group prayers. (7) the teachings of
Rev. Sam Shoemaker, (8) The details of Bill W.’s conversion to God—per the
recommendation of Dr. William Silkworth (Bill W.’s surrender and new birth at
the Calvary Mission altar, (9) Bill W.’s
vital religious experience in his hospital room where he cried out to God,
sensed the presence of God in his hospital room, said to himself, “Bill, you
are a free man. This is the God of the Scriptures.” (10) Bill then lost all of
his doubts about God, and he never drank a drop again. (11) the life-changing
program of A First Century Christian
Fellowship, later called the Oxford Group, and still later Moral Re-Armament.,
and (10) the religious books early AAs read.
Also learn to recognize how early A.A. thinking was touched
by the ideas of Professor William James; by "new thought" writers
such as Ralph Waldo Trine and Emmet Fox; by the "higher power"
language that later overwhelmed A.A. literature and by the ensuing babble in
the 1950's and the many years following Dr. Bob’s death. These ideas emerged in
A.A. from a small group of new thoughters who often disputed the biblical
teaching of salvation and then countered with the idea that everyone had
“Christ in him.”
Finally, see the difference in origins, approach, content,
and beliefs between "Akron A.A." and "New York A.A.": (1)
Akron developed ideas from the Bible in a Christian fellowship, with "old
fashioned prayer meetings," Bible study, Quiet Time, and Christian
literature. (2) New York fashioned today’s basic text primarily from ideas of
Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Dr. William D. Silkworth, Professor William James, and the life-changing
principles and practices of the Oxford Group. Or so said Bill W.
Next comes your decision, mission, and work with others carrying a
helpful message about the foregoing
Will you continue to be a student? If so, there’s lots more
to study.
Do you want to be a teacher? If so, there’s lots more to
learn and organize.
Do you want to be a speaker? If so, prepare to tell our complete
A.A. story; your own story of how you
entered the rooms of A.A., how you established your relationship with God,
whether and how you have taken the 12
Steps, and what you have done and will do to help others.
Do you want to be the leader of a group? If so, first find members, topics, literature, a format, and a
cadre.
Find a cadre of two or three who first are willing to learn,
to study, to strive for accuracy, and to help and lead.
Help others by helping them to learn–individually, as a
cadre, and--only then--as a group
Suggested Resources You and Your Cadre can Acquire, Study, and Use
You can begin your work with one or more of the Dick B. or
Dick B. and Ken B. titles or groups of titles. E.g.:
Use Turning Point for
a comprehensive overview of our spiritual history and roots, or
The Akron Genesis of
A.A. for an accurate picture of how Pioneer Akron A.A. took shape, or
Study of our major biblical roots: (1) The Good Book and The Big Book, (2) Good Morning!–(quiet time, etc.), (3) Anne Smith’s Journal, (4) New
Light on Alcoholism–Shoemaker, (5) The
Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous, A.A., and (6) Dr. Bob and His Library and The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual
Growth.
For background: (1) Making
Known the Biblical Roots of A.A., (2) That
Amazing Grace, and (3) The Golden
Text of A.A.
For your cadre, your teaching, or study group itself: (1) The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots
in the Bible. (2) Good Morning!:
Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early A.A. (3) God and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity
in the 21st Century. (4) By The Power
of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups & Forming Similar Groups Today.
(5) Why Early A.A. Succeeded: The Good
Book in Alcoholics Anonymous Yesterday and Today (A Bible Study Primer for AAs
and other 12-Steppers). (6) Utilizing
Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery Today.
For our latest– (1) Cured!:
Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts. (2) The Conversion of Bill W., (3) Dr.
Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a
Youngster in Vermont. (4) Bill W. and
Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men of Vermont. (5) A.A. Articles on our
History: A Collection of over 1500 Articles by Dick B. (6) The acquisition of
the Dick B. 29 Volume A.A. History Reference Set, for only $249.00
My own suggestions for planning your purchases, studies, and future service
and glorification of God, and service to our fellow men
Don’t start a group. Start learning from texts, as an
individual, with a sponsor, or with friends.
Purchase my entire 29-Volume A.A. History Reference Set at
the substantial discount of $249. Shipping and handling free in the USA
Then you can pick and choose your books for study, or
Instead, purchase one of the books that interests you; or,
preferably, if you know what you want to organize and study, select one or
several titles for you group and receive these at the substantial group
discount of 50% of retail, plus shipping and handling, or
When and if you start a group or gather as a group, you may
purchase 10 or more titles of your choosing at a 50% discount plus shipping and
handling [i.e., 10 Good Books (worth $179.95) at half price ($89.97), plus 10%
retail shipping and handling].
Please don't hesitate to contact Ken B. or me for further
details: Email: dickb@dickb.com; Ken B. (c) 808 276 4945; Mail: Dick B., PO Box
837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837. To order now, simply use our online Order Form and
adapt it, deducting discounts allowed above.
Contact:
Dick B.
P.O. Box 837
Kihei, Hawaii
96753-0837
Ph/fax: 808-874-4876
dickb@dickb.com
Gloria Deo
Monday, August 26, 2013
The First Inernational Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference - Sept 6-7 - Portland, Maine
The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference
September 6-7, 2013
Portland, Maine
[A.A. cofounder Dr.
Bob was a member of Christian Endeavor
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.,172), founded here
2/2/1881]
Featuring A.A. Historian Dick B. of Maui, Hawaii,
and Special Guests
Conference Theme:
“The History of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Another View Which Includes Its Christian Beginnings
in New England”
Meetings, Roundtables, Speakers, Research, and Workshops in
Portland, Maine
[Plus: (1) Research
tour of Dr. Bob’s birthplace, St. Johnsbury, VT, Sept. 8-10;
(2) Free At
Last Group A.A. meeting, Wed., Sept. 11; 5:30 pm potluck dinner;
7:00-8:30 pm speaker discussion mtg.; guest speakers Dick B. and Ken B.]
Main Conference
Location:
The First Baptist
Church of Portland, Maine
360 Canco Rd.,
Portland, ME 04103; www.firstbaptistportland.org/
Conference Schedule
(** NOTE: Admission is FREE. Registration is required. **)
Friday, September 6 (** New
start time to allow for additional speakers! **)
12:30 to 1:00 pm: Initial on-site conference registration
1:00 pm: Conference begins with prayer by Ken B.
1:05 to 1:10 pm: Welcome and Introduction by Dick B.
and Ken B.
1:10 to 2:00 pm: Mark Galligan, Ontario, Canada:
The
Akronites and Canadian Successes
2:10 to
3:00 pm: Gary Agnew, Connecticut:
A.A. History,
Veterans, and Correctional Outreach
3:10 to
4:00 pm: Jim Haselhuhn, Washington:
Pictures from
2012 research in Vermont, Cleveland, and Akron
4:10 to 5:00
pm: Tim Kolstad, Colorado:
Clarence H.
Snyder and the Came to Believe Retreats,
The Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community Workbook
5:10 to 6:00 pm: Father Bill W., Texas
Quiet
Time
6:00 to 7:20 pm Dinner break—on your own
7:30 to
9:30 pm Roundtable discussions w/presenters
and conference participants; moderated by Dick B. and
Ken B.
Saturday, September 7
9:00 to 9:45 am: Conference registration (cont.),
coffee and tea, hospitality
9:45 to 9:55 am: Second day of conference
begins with prayer and brief overview
by Ken B.
9:55 to 10:00 am: Welcome by Wally C., conference host
10:00 to 10:50 am: Session One: Russell S., Miami:
The
12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
11:00 to 11:50 am: Session Two: Dick B. and Ken B.:
A. A. Origins,
History, Founders, and Facts
12:00 to 1:15 pm: Lunch Break: $5.00 onsite or on your own
1:15 to 2:05
pm: Session Three: Dick B.
Sponsorship Today:
The Neglected Sponsor
2:15 to 3:05 pm: Session Four: Dick B. and Ken B.
Orienting, Prepping,
and Informing Newcomers
3:15 to 4:15
pm: Friday’s speakers each summarize
their talks in eight (8) minutes
4:15 to
4:30 pm: Break
4:30 to 5:20 pm: Session Five: Dick B. and Ken B.:
“Stick with the
Winners!—Part One”:
The Vermont story, and Christian training
of Bill W. and Dr. Bob; how the first three AAs got sober; the original Akron
A.A. Group Number One “Christian fellowship” program
5:30 to 6:20 pm: Session Six: Dick B. and Ken B.
“Stick with the
Winners!—Part Two”:
Personal Stories of A.A.’s Pioneers;
Conference-approved literature that supports the pioneers’ message of reliance
on God; applying “old-school” A.A. in recovery today
6:20 to 6:30 pm: Conference ends with prayer by Ken B.
** We encourage conference participants to meet with each other
for dinner and otherwise following the close of the conference on Saturday
evening. **
For more information about “The First International
Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference,” please contact Dick B.’s son Ken by
email at: kcb00799@gmail.com.
Conference Mission
The mission of this conference is to present an accurate and
comprehensive picture of Alcoholics Anonymous history which includes the roles
played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.’s astonishing
successes.
Of alcoholics who came to A.A. and
really tried, 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after
some relapses; and among the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed
improvement. [Alcoholics Anonymous,
4th ed., xx]
Records in Cleveland show that 93
percent of those who came to us never had a drink again. [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 261]
Your Heavenly Father will never let
you down! [Dr. Bob in Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 181]
Bill [W.] looked across at my wife
and said to her, “Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of
this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling
people.” [AA # 3, Bill D., in Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 191]
When we [Bill W. and Dr. Bob]
started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions.
But
we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. [Dr.
Bob in The Co-Founders of Alcoholics
Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (A.A. pamphlet #
P-53), 13]
Conference Audience
This conference is for members of 12 Step Fellowships
(including old-timers, speakers, sponsors, newcomers, and garden variety drunks
and addicts); other International Christian Recovery Coalition “participants”;
physicians, clergy, recovery pastors, and other Christian leaders and workers
in the recovery arena; and professionals working in the fields of intervention,
detox, treatment, sober living, counseling, psychology, and psychiatry.
Conference Registration
Admission for “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous
History Conference” is FREE! Registration
is required. For more information about the conference please contact Ken
B. by email at kcb00799@gmail.com or by
phone at 1-808-276-4945. To register for the conference, please send to Ken B.
by email at kcb00799@gmail.com: (1)
your name; (2) your postal mailing address; (3) your email address; and (4)
your telephone number. Ken B. will send you by email a confirmation as to the
acceptance of your registration.
If you would like to make a donation to help offset the
costs involved in putting on this conference, please contact Ken B. by email at
kcb00799@gmail.com or by phone at
1-808-276-4945. Thank you!
Ongoing Conference Developments: Expansion!
Substantial, valuable, expansive changes are here announced
as to “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference” in
Portland, Maine, and related events over the seven-day period from September 6
through 12, 2013.
We are delighted to see many valued and distinguished
registrations for this admission-free conference pouring in. Dick B. and Ken B.
will be available to meet with many leaders and speakers before and after the
Friday and Saturday conference events.
And a number of Christian leaders and workers in recovery
arena from around the world will be giving presentations in which they will
tell us about what they are currently doing in the recovery arena; how well the
work is going; how others can help; and their vision for the future.
We are looking forward to having speakers and others
attendees from throughout the United States and from other countries
participate in “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference.” Conference topics will be diverse; e.g., Quiet Time and the
Eleventh Step; the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous; Sponsorship; Focus on
Newcomers; the real, historical, Christian roots of A.A.; and how “old-school”
A.A. ideas can and should be applied in today's recovery fellowships and
programs as a powerful opportunity for those who want God's help in overcoming
alcoholism and addiction, and who are willing to go to any lengths to get it.
As our list of speakers grows, we hope to include topics
such as the Wilson House, Burr and Burton Seminary, the YMCA, Rescue Missions,
Evangelists, the Salvation Army, Congregationalists, and Christian Endeavor, and
others.
Are you one of those would like to learn more about the
following topics:
·
“Old-school” A.A.—particularly as it could be
observed in Akron and in Cleveland during A.A.’s earliest days;
·
How much A.A. has changed since Bill W. included
what he called “the new version of the program, now the ‘Twelve Steps’” in the
first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (“the Big Book”) published in April 1939
(see Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162); and
·
How “old-school” A.A. principles and
practices--which drew on the power and love of “the God of the Scriptures” (as
Bill W. called the Creator of the heavens and the earth on page 284 of The
Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings)—may be applied today.
Using A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature, and without
“violating the Traditions.” Even in a Fellowship that certainly today includes
Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, unbelievers, and those
with no belief at all.
There is room in our Society for all when one heeds both the
spirit and the letter of key statements in the Big Book, such as the following
one about the Twelve Traditions:
. . . [W]e had to evolve principles
by which the A.A. groups and A.A. as a whole could survive and function
effectively. It was thought that no alcoholic man or woman could be excluded
from our Society; that our leaders might serve but never govern; that each
group was to be autonomous . . .
This
was the substance of A.A.’s Twelve Traditions, . . . [N]one of these principles
had the force of rules or laws. [Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., xix]
There is no room in our Society for those who try to
blockade free exercise of rights and privileges by any particular approach so
long as that free exercise maintains the primary purpose of carrying the
message to alcoholics and addicts who still suffer. There is plenty of room in
the Fellowship for the individual who wants to share with the newcomer
. . . in his own language and from
his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 29]
And who wants to make known the major role that God, His Son
Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in early A.A.’s astonishing successes
(according to A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature), and can
play in recovery today. Room for those who want truth, not opinion. Room for
those who help, instead of criticize and hinder. Room for those who want
healing, instead of in-and-out bondage, temptation, and relapse. Room for those
that recognize that the heart of A.A. was and is “the Solution”:
There
is a solution. . . .
The central fact of our lives today
is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and
lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those
things for us which we could never do by ourselves. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 25]
Sound familiar? Of course! That was the message Bill W. said
his friend Ebby T. had carried to him:
But my friend sat before me, and he
made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do
for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. .
. . Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, . . .
Had
the power originated in him? Obviously it had not.
.
. . It began to look as though religious people were right after all. . . . My
ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 11]
The “solution” set forth in the Big Book of Alcoholics
Anonymous is grounded on the Creator’s entering into the hearts and lives of
those who have come to believe that Divine Aid is the solution for their
alcoholism; and those who have recognized that they can't help themselves, that
probably no human power can, that God can and will, and that they can choose to
exit from the "medically incurable" category and enter into the
“recovered” category.
Tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands--of
Christians and potential Christians are currently involved in, or will soon be
entering the rooms of, Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step Fellowships. They
are puzzled by talk of nonsense gods, higher powers, spirituality, and atheism.
They are often intimidated by remarks in meetings to the effect that talk of
Jesus and the Bible (and sometimes even talk of God) is against “the
Traditions,” and/or that the Bible is “not Conference-approved.”
They need not be puzzled or intimidated! A major purpose of “The
First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference” is to educate
those who want to know about the facts of A.A.’s history and A.A.’s Christian
predecessors who were successful in healing alcoholics and addicts. You will
meet Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena who work with
garden-variety alcoholics and addicts; as well as those who are knowledgeable
of various disciplines and areas of study, including religion, medicine,
psychiatry, “old-school” A.A., the origins of A.A., the founding of A.A., and
the original “Christian fellowship” of A.A.
Many of the conference speakers have had the opportunity to
observe what both Bill W. and Dr. Bob stressed: (1) Love and tolerance as our
code. (2) Love and service as the essence of the program--old and new--and the
form it took in A.A.’s early days and is taking today.
A Further Conference Update
The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference will be held in Portland, Maine, on September 6-7, 2013. The
conference itself will run from 1:00 pm
to 9:30 p.m. on Friday evening, September 6; and it will continue from 9:45 a.m. until about 6:30 p.m. on
Saturday, September 7, at the following location:
The First Baptist
Church of Portland, Maine
360 Canco Rd.,
Portland, ME 04103
Dick B. and Ken B. will be staying at the following hotel
from September 5-12:
Hilton Garden Inn
Portland Airport
145 Jetport Blvd.,
Portland, ME, 04102
1-866-767-0278
Dick B. and Ken B. check in Thursday, September 5, and check
out on Sunday, September 8. Dick and Ken will be available for pre- and
post-conference personal, small-group, and workshop meetings with Christian
leaders and workers in the recovery arena. These meetings will cover Dr. Bob’s
wife, Anne Smith, and Quiet Time-Eleventh Step practices and resources; and
other subjects being formulated as speakers emerge. The meetings are broadening
in number and topic as Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena are
registering right now.
We are also offering
a research tour of St. Johnsbury, Vermont (about three hours away), September 8-10. (St. Johnsbury is the birthplace
and boyhood home of A.A. cofounder Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith.) We will depart
from Portland, Maine, by automobile on Sunday afternoon, September 8, about
1:00 p.m. We will depart from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, about 4:30 pm on Tuesday
evening, September 10. This will allow for two full days of research and
touring with Dick B. and Ken B. in St. Johnsbury. Dick B. will staying at the
following hotel in St. Johnsbury—checking in on Sunday, September 8, and
checking out on Tuesday, September 10:
Comfort Inn & Suites
703 US Route 5 South
Saint Johnsbury, VT 05819
Phone: (802) 748-1500
If you would like to
participate in this optional research trip to St. Johnsbury—which will
involve securing a hotel in St. Johnsbury on Sunday, Sept. 8, and Monday, Sept.
9--please contact Dick B.’s son Ken ASAP
by email at kcb00799@gmail.com or by
phone at 1-808-276-4945. [Please remember Dick B. and Ken B. live in Hawaii.
3:00 pm in New York (EDT) = 12 noon in California (PDT) = 9:00 am in Maui,
Hawaii (H.A.S.T.)]
Other Meetings and Events with Dick B.
and Ken B., September 6-11, 2013:
Sun., Sept. 8, to Tues., Sept. 10: Research trip to Dr. Bob’s birthplace, St. Johnsbury, VT
Wednesday, Sept. 11: Portland:
Morn./afternoon: pers. mtgs. w/Dick & Ken B.;
Evening: Free At Last Group A.A.
meeting, Wed., Sept. 11; 5:30 pm potluck dinner; 7:00-8:30 pm speaker
discussion mtg.
To register for “The First International Alcoholics
Anonymous History Conference” (Admission is FREE!), or for more information
about the conference, please contact Dick B.’s son, Ken, via email at kcb00799@gmail.com or on his cell phone at
1-808-276-4945.
Please join us in Portland September 6-7, 2013!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Barnes and Noble's Excellent Display of Dick B. Alcoholics Anonymous History and Christian Recovery Books. Thank you!
Through the years of our research, reporting, publishing, and distributing books by Author and A.A. Historian Dick B., Barnes and Noble has provided us with a steady flow of orders for the Dick B. books.
To see their display, go to http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/dick-b.
Dick B. www.dickb.com/titles.shtml; 808 874 4876; dickb
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Anne Smith's Journal 1933-1939
Alcoholics Anonymous History Anne Smith's Journal, 1933-1939 A.A.'s Principles of Success
By Dick B.
Anne Smith's Journal, 1933-1939
Undoubtedly the most forgotten, least quoted, and least understood of early A.A.'s six major spiritual roots is Anne Smith's Journal. Anne Ripley Smith was the wife of A.A.'s co-founder, Dr. Bob. She was called by A.A.'s other co-founder, Bill Wilson, a "founder" of A.A. and the "Mother of A.A." It was she who read the Bible daily to Dr. Bob and Bill during the summer of 1935 when Bill was living with the Smiths and the spiritual recovery principles of A.A. were being developed. It was she, beginning in 1933, who recorded the basic ideas from the Bible, the Oxford Group's life-changing program, the Quiet Time practices, the Christian literature, and the practical ideas for depending upon God that became part and parcel of the A.A. Twelve Steps and A.A.'s Fellowship. Anne assembled these in her journal from 1933 to 1939. She read from this journal and used it as a basis for discussion from A.A.'s earliest Quiet Time days at the Smith home in Akron. Anne was declared to be the one who gave Bill W. and Dr. Bob a much needed "spiritual infusion." She attended all pioneer meetings. She acted as house-mother, nurse, evangelist, counselor, and employment agent for A.A. pioneers and their families. To know what Anne Smith wrote and was teaching is to know the real heart of A.A.'s spiritual ideas and program. This was the program that set the stage for the astonishing 75% to 93% success rate in Akron and Cleveland for "medically incurable" alcoholics who really tried and recovered. It was a program that put God and His Word first!
Foreword by Bob S., son of Dr. Bob & Anne Smith; co-author, Children of the Healer.
Endorsements
"My mother, Anne Smith, studied, knew, and believed in the Good Book, as did my father, Dr. Bob. She recorded in her workbook the spiritual principles she shared so often with the many alcoholics and their wives that she helped."
Sue Smith Windows
Daughter of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith Co-author, Children of the Healer
"Dick's book is a 'page-turner' for those of us in A.A. who want to know and understand the origins of its spiritual principles."
Earl H.
Oklahoma City
"A valuable analysis of the thoughts and teachings of the wife of A.A.'s co-founder, Dr. Bob."
Mel B.
Author, New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle
"Dick B. has painstakingly researched the...notebook Anne kept so faithfully, and, in doing so, has made the spiritual depth of that astonishing, lovely person available to all of us."
Robert Smith
Son of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith Co-author, Children of the Healer
Paradise Research Publications, Inc.; 180 pp.; 6 x 9; perfect bound; 1998; $22.95; ISBN 1-885803-24-9
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
The A.A. Grapevine and The Language of the Heart
Ken B. Response to
Man Talking about Publisher of The
Language of the Heart
Aloha to you, Tom,
from Maui, Hawaii!
My dad (Dick
B.--www.DickB.com) copied me on his response to your email message in which you
stated:
"The Language of
the Heart . . . is not an AA General Service Conference-approved book . .
."
As my dad observed,
his copy of The Language of the Heart has a large
"circle-and-triangle" symbol on the Copyright page (with a copyright
date of 1988). In addition, there is a large "circle-and-triangle"
symbol on the back cover of the dust jacket of his copy. (The ISBN number of my
dad's copy is: 0-933685-16-5.)
While doing some
preliminary research on the question, I noted that The Language of the Heart is
found in the "AA Conference Approved Books" section of the Minnesota
Recovery Page Online Bookstore:
http://www.minnesotarecovery.info/books/AAConferenceApproved.htm
I also noted that The
Language of the Heart is found on the four-page document titled "This list
is Conference Approved Literature" on the Arkansas Central Office Web
site:
http://www.arkansascentraloffice.org/documents/centraloffice.pdf
In addition, I noted
that The Language of the Heart is found on the Literature page of Northern
Santa Barbara County AA Central Office Web site under the heading
"Conference Approved Literature Available through the Central
Office":
http://aa52centraloffice.org/Literature.html
I also noted that, on
a Web page on the Alcoholics Anonymous Central Coast NSW Web site which clearly
distinguishes between "Conference Approved Literature" and "Non
Conference Approved," the book The Language of the Heart is found in the
"Conference Approved Literature" category:
http://www.ccaa.org.au/literature.htm
I also see that The
Language of the Heart is listed in the "F-10 Literature Catalog -
2011-2012" currently posted on the AA.org Web site. It is found in the
"A.A. Grapevine Subscriptions, Books, Audio, Special Items, eBooks, Audio
Downloads" section on page 38:
http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/aacatalog.pdf
And I just came across
the following article in the December 2010 issue of the MIRUS (Minneapolis
Intergroup: Recovery, Unity, Service) Web site:
"Is The
Grapevine Conference-approved?"
[http://www.aaminneapolis.org/pages/mirus/Mirus_1210.pdf]
The article (May 2007
Vol. 63 No. 12) states:
"So individual
issues of the magazine and Grapevine books are, by design, not
Conference-approved."
(Copyright May 2007
A.A. Grapevine, Inc.)
I would accept the
May 2007 article from The Grapevine as authoritative. I do find the presence of
the "circle-and-triangle" symbol on the book and its listing on
various Web sites as "Conference-approved" to be interesting.
Thank you for writing
to Dick B.
Dick B.'s son, Ken
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A.A. History and Christian Recovery Events Where Authors Dick B. and Ken B. Scheduled to Speak Next 4 Months
Events Where Authors Dick B. and Ken B.
Will Be Speaking the Next 4 Months
Aloha to you from Maui, Hawaii!
Here are firm and probable events my dad
(Dick B.--www.DickB.com, www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com,
www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com) and I expect to be speaking at over the next
four-and-a-half months:
1. "The First International
Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference," September 6-7, 2013, in
Portland, Maine:
2. Northern California events, September
13-16, 2013:
Friday, September 13, 2013; 7:15 pm to
9:00 pm
Higher Power Celebration
Contact: Eddie G.: Email:
eddieg1@comcast.net
Central Peninsula Church, Foster City
campus
1005 Shell Blvd.
Foster City, CA
Monday, September 16, 2013; 7:00 pm to
8:30 pm.
Contact: Greg Pope:
gregp@cornerstoneweb.org
Room C-217
Cornerstone Fellowship--Livermore Campus
348 North Canyon Parkway
Livermore CA
3. A.A. history / Christian Recovery
meetings featuring Dick B. and Ken B.
Phoenix, AZ: possible/probably date:
Friday, October 11, 2013; location: TBA
Tucson, AZ: possible/probable date:
Saturday, October 12, 2013; location: TBA
4. Christian recovery overnight on New
Year's Eve and New Year's Day (similar to a holiday "Alkathon");
Tuesday, December 31, 2013, to Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013, 12:00 noon,
to Wednesday, January 1, 2014, 10:00 am
Adventure Christian Church:
http://adventurechurch.org/
Contact: Greg Bagley, Recovery Pastor;
Email: gregley1951@gmail.com
6401 Stanford Ranch Rd.
Roseville, CA 95678
Hope to see you again soon!
In GOD's love,
Dick B.'s son, Ken
Cell: 1-808-276-4945
Dick B.
Author, 46 titles & over 1,500
articles on A.A. History and the Christian Recovery Movement
Exec. Dir., International Christian
Recovery Coalition
Christian Recovery Resource Centers -
Worldwide
Christian Recovery Radio
www.DickB.com
DickB@DickB.com
(808) 874-4876
PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837
Ps 118:17 (NJB):
I shall not die, I shall live to recount
the great deeds of Yahweh.
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