dickb
07-28-2009, 12:00 AM
:idea:An Exciting and Fruitful Week of
International Christian Recovery Coalition Meetings and Conferences
By Dick B. and Ken B.
[Dick B. and Ken B. have just returned from a week of meetings and Conferences in California with Christian recovery leaders from various parts of the United States. The following is a brief report, taking the meetings chronologically]
[** Please see at the bottom of this report a preview of what’s coming up in Southern California, Maui, and Texas in the ensuing months.**]
1, Rock Recovery, Soledad House, ABC Sober Living houses in the San Diego area. On
July 13 and again on July 19, we met with David Powers, Recovery Pastor Tom Mosley, Tom Hathorn, Jacob Schwartz, and others who are conducting A.A.-Christian recovery through Rock Church, “sober” treatment houses, and the Rock Recovery Ministry. Rock Church is the largest church in San Diego. They were alive with enthusiasm.
2. Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors Institute headquartered in Redlands, California. Senior Pastor Michael Belzman, Ph.D., met with us once and had telephone conferences several time on his organization’s unique capacity to certify Christian drug and alcohol counselors; asked us to serve on his curriculum advisory council; and will work with us to further the knowledge of counselors of both the 12-Step roots and their biblical origins. There are already 30 institutes in California, and we intend to become one and provide resources for an A.A. history segment of counseling.
3. Larry Webb, a long-term Christian AA. Tuesday Noon allowed us to confer with Larry who has conducted the oldest Big Book/Bible study group in the Southern California area. He was accompanied by a pastor who wanted to learn more. Plans were made for expanding the outreach in the Orange County area.
4. Bishop Richard Skolnik from St. James, New York. Rich is a leader in an A.A. Bible study group on Long Island and is working with its other leader to distribute historical materials as widely as possible in New York. He attended almost all of our meetings.
5. Pastor Jim Gaffney, who hosted our May Conferences. Jim met with us several times throughout the week. He is a former Recovery Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, and he is currently a pastoral and recovery counselor. He contributed many organizational ideas and introduced us to many contacts. He is a visionary and is a vital part of our outreach planning. We met with Jim twice on Wednesday and again on Friday. His input was indispensable.
6. Herb Kaighan. Herb met with us to share his books and work on teaching the Twelve Steps all over the Southern California area and elsewhere. He also attended and exhibited at the Saturday Conference at San Juan Capistrano that followed.
7. Pastor Jens Christie. Jens calls himself the unofficial “Mayor” of Recovery Pastors in Southern Orange County. He has attended our conferences, communicated with us frequently, and challenged us with ideas about how the knowledge of the roles of God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A., and the nature of its program, can help him “prevent relapses” in his counseling. The answers involved talking to AAs in their own language, providing accurate history, understanding the Big Book and Twelve Steps, and showing how the extraordinary successes of early A.A. in the 1930’s are available today through the power of God.
8. Recovery Pastor Randy Moraitis of the Crossing Church in Costa Mesa. Randy met with us on Wednesday; invited us to his church’s meeting on Friday; and attended the Saturday Conference with several colleagues. We were excited to see his Friday meeting, the many young people who attended, the “chip” celebrations, and the biblical teaching related to the Eleventh Step which was the topic of the evening.
9. Christian psychologist and radio personality Bob Noonan. Thursday, Bob hosted my two-
hour video presentation which will soon be on DVD to assist in the training of trainers.
10. Bobby Nicholl, Director of Admissions and Interventions at Celebrate a New Life, the Christian track program at Hope by the Sea, Thursday afternoon, Bobby met with us in company with a pastor to help us frame history segments in that arena. Bobby also exhibited at, participated in, and supported our May 2009 Conference in Southern California. Hope by the Sea is located in San Juan Capistrano.
11. Robert Tucker, Ph.D., President of New Life Spirit, at Huntington Beach, California. Thursday evening, we met with Dr. Tucker. He has a multi-faceted Christian recovery approach, embracing detox, treatment, Christian recovery counseling, sober living, and much more. He made his offices available to the newly-founded International Christian Recovery Coalition, and will be working with us on training and curricula.
12. Fr. Bill Wigmore, President of Austin Recovery, the largest treatment center in Texas.
Bill is currently working with leaders at the University of Texas, two Episcopal seminaries, a representative of Hazelden, and with us. We plan on assisting him on three DVD presentations: (1) Early A.A. History. (2) Twelve Step guidance. (3) An Eleventh Step-Quiet Time program. And this was one of the greatest outreach achievements we had seen up to that point.
13. John Townsend, Ph.D., Business Leadership Consulting and Coaching. Friday afternoon, we met with Dr. Townsend, a noted author and clinician. Bobby Nicholl and his assistant, and Pastor Jim Gaffney, also participated in that meeting. Many excellent suggestions for framing and carrying our information internationally were contributed by all.
14. The Crossing Church in Costa Mesa. Friday evening, at the invitation of Randy Moraitis, Pastor of Care and Recovery at The Crossing Church in Costa Mesa, we attended a large Lifelines Recovery meeting which effectively combined celebration of sobriety anniversaries with an Eleventh Step, biblically-oriented talk by a distinguished scientist. The meeting was alive with enthusiasm, rapt attention, and supportive behavior.
15. “A New Way Out Leadership Conference with Dick B.” Saturday, July 18, from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 PM, we addressed a conference of Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena, hosted by Celebrate a New Life at Hope by the Sea, San Juan Capistrano. The meeting was small but well attended, and allowed for a talk on the Christian origins, sources, roots and aspects of the Original A.A. program founded in Akron; and then an introduction, and time for questions and answers, from every member of the attending audience. Celebrate a New Life hosts Steve Wilson and Bobby Nicholl addressed the conference also.
Gregory Sipe, Director of Operations at Serenity Shores Recovery—“living solutions for sober people.” Just following the Conference, I had a rewarding talk with Gregory Sipe. Greg had an heartfelt interest in the relevance of early A.A. history.
16. David R. Saturday dinner was hosted by Christian AA David R. at one of his restaurants in Laguna Hills. After a long discussion with David, we found him eager to lead an outreach team for the International Christian Recovery Coalition in the Orange County Area—reaching out to alcoholics, addicts, clergy, AAs, prisons, treatment programs, Christian recovery leaders, etc.
17. David Powers and Rock Recovery in San Diego. Sunday, July 19, we drove to San Diego to learn more about Rock Recovery. First, we went to a newcomer orientation course in the home of David Powers. He did a masterful job of explaining to the newcomer the real importance of A.A. General Services Conference-approved literature in an effective Christian recovery program. Then, after a repast prepared by his wife, David took us on a tour of 12-Step faith-based sober living environment homes—including the ABC Sober Living home—a sober living component for the Rock Recovery program. Then a tour of Soledad Home for Women, located on Mount Soledad at the edge of La Jolla. We met a happening group of leaders who focus on zero tolerance sober living, the Twelve Steps, Quiet Time, Bible study, attendance at A.A. meetings, and weekly involvement with Rock Church—the largest church in San Diego.
18. Pat Robertson, President and Servant, and founder of CityTeam. Monday afternoon, July 20, we flew up to Oakland and had a brief discussion with Pat. A while back, at Pat’s invitation, I was privileged to address the CityTeam staff and newcomers at its Camp MayMac in the Santa Cruz Mountains, over a period of four days. Now, Pat—who has planted thousands of churches throughout the world—has a “Vision for You”—regarding the formation of new Twelve Step groups that embrace our “A New Way Out” ideas. We expect to plan much more in terms of training trainers to do just that.
19. “Dick B. Speaks about the Miracles of the Early Days of A.A.” Monday evening involved a huge A.A. history conference at Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore, hosted by its Turning Point Christian recovery fellowship. Among those attending were two of my sponsees who have stayed sober for around 20 years; a recovered healer who has reached out throughout the United States, in India, in Mexico, and elsewhere, and brought about miraculous healings; two people from CityTeam; plus AAs, NAs, church members, Turning Point members, recovery leaders, and many others. The response was amazing, and the entire trip was paid for and hosted by Cornerstone Fellowship and Turning Point people. Faithful AA. Dominic D. played the major role in arranging the whole venture, and we had excellent meetings with him.
COMING UP
1. A revised edition of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide by Dick B. and Ken B. This revised edition of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Manual will include things we have learned at the three sets of conferences in 2008 and 2009. It can be used by Christian leaders, counselors, pastors, speakers, sponsors, treatment leaders, clergy, and newcomers to find out how to bring the early A.A. recovery program to the fore as a choice for Christians and others in recovery today. For those who wish to support our work through purchasing the Guide, we will continue to make the 8 ½” x 11” book of around 150 pages available for $20 as a Microsoft Word 2003 (.doc) file attached to an email message, until we convert it to 6” x 9”, print-on-demand form (like nearly all other Dick B. books). We accept three forms of payment:
a. You may use the “Donate” button in the center column of the front page of the www.DickB.com web site (a PayPal account is not required);
b. You may send the following credit card information by email (preferably splitting the information over two email messages for security) to DickB@DickB.com: full name (as it appears on the credit card), billing address (associated with the credit card), telephone number (associated with the credit card), email address, and shipping address (if different from the billing address). Please include a cell phone number if you have one that is different from the phone number associated with the credit card so we can easily contact you if we have a problem processing your order; or
c. You may mail a check or money order, payable to “Dick B.”, in U.S. dollars drawn on a U.S. bank, to: Dick B., P.O. Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837.
2. We may be returning to California to speak at a Christian counselor conference in
August, and later in October to meet with Christian leaders to move forward with our plans to help frame, produce, and construct historical segments, and act as counselors for Christian recovery programs, efforts, and ideas.
3. “The First International Gathering of Recovered Saints in Maui with Dick B.” will be held in South Kihei on the Island of Maui from December 26, 2009 to January 2, 2010. This Gathering is for Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena who want to bring their families, enjoy a lovely holiday period in the best island—Maui, and fellowship with like-minded believers while lounging on the beach, swimming and surfing, viewing the gorgeous scenery, sunning, seeing rainbows and poinsettias in bloom, getting recharged for a new year as Ambassadors for Christ to the still-suffering alcoholics, addicts, and others with life-controlling problems, attending an A.A. meeting or two, and seeking out a church in which to worship during the period.
4. New DVD’s, audios, web postings, books, articles, and emails on early A.A.’s spiritual roots; the roles of God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in alcoholism recovery; and the astonishing successes which occurred when the pioneers placed their reliance on God.
5. Outreach by AAs, NAs, Christian recovery fellowships, Christian recovery leaders, Christian treatment, Christian-track, sober living, counselor certification and training, and conferences.
6. Free distribution of Dick B. titles as widely as possible, funded by benefactors, individual donors, entities, business and professional people, agencies, and churches—just as has been going on for the past 19 years.
7. Completion of stocking the Dr. Bob Core Library at North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont;
8. Funding a resource center for the 30 Dick B. “Historical Treasures.”
9. Carefully planned hospitality and outreach during the A.A. International Convention in San Antonio, Texas, in July 1-4, 2010.
Please stay tuned for information and details as time progresses!
Contact: Dick B., PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837; (808) 874-4876; DickB@DickB.com
Gloria Deo
:idea:
International Christian Recovery Coalition Meetings and Conferences
By Dick B. and Ken B.
[Dick B. and Ken B. have just returned from a week of meetings and Conferences in California with Christian recovery leaders from various parts of the United States. The following is a brief report, taking the meetings chronologically]
[** Please see at the bottom of this report a preview of what’s coming up in Southern California, Maui, and Texas in the ensuing months.**]
1, Rock Recovery, Soledad House, ABC Sober Living houses in the San Diego area. On
July 13 and again on July 19, we met with David Powers, Recovery Pastor Tom Mosley, Tom Hathorn, Jacob Schwartz, and others who are conducting A.A.-Christian recovery through Rock Church, “sober” treatment houses, and the Rock Recovery Ministry. Rock Church is the largest church in San Diego. They were alive with enthusiasm.
2. Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors Institute headquartered in Redlands, California. Senior Pastor Michael Belzman, Ph.D., met with us once and had telephone conferences several time on his organization’s unique capacity to certify Christian drug and alcohol counselors; asked us to serve on his curriculum advisory council; and will work with us to further the knowledge of counselors of both the 12-Step roots and their biblical origins. There are already 30 institutes in California, and we intend to become one and provide resources for an A.A. history segment of counseling.
3. Larry Webb, a long-term Christian AA. Tuesday Noon allowed us to confer with Larry who has conducted the oldest Big Book/Bible study group in the Southern California area. He was accompanied by a pastor who wanted to learn more. Plans were made for expanding the outreach in the Orange County area.
4. Bishop Richard Skolnik from St. James, New York. Rich is a leader in an A.A. Bible study group on Long Island and is working with its other leader to distribute historical materials as widely as possible in New York. He attended almost all of our meetings.
5. Pastor Jim Gaffney, who hosted our May Conferences. Jim met with us several times throughout the week. He is a former Recovery Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, and he is currently a pastoral and recovery counselor. He contributed many organizational ideas and introduced us to many contacts. He is a visionary and is a vital part of our outreach planning. We met with Jim twice on Wednesday and again on Friday. His input was indispensable.
6. Herb Kaighan. Herb met with us to share his books and work on teaching the Twelve Steps all over the Southern California area and elsewhere. He also attended and exhibited at the Saturday Conference at San Juan Capistrano that followed.
7. Pastor Jens Christie. Jens calls himself the unofficial “Mayor” of Recovery Pastors in Southern Orange County. He has attended our conferences, communicated with us frequently, and challenged us with ideas about how the knowledge of the roles of God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A., and the nature of its program, can help him “prevent relapses” in his counseling. The answers involved talking to AAs in their own language, providing accurate history, understanding the Big Book and Twelve Steps, and showing how the extraordinary successes of early A.A. in the 1930’s are available today through the power of God.
8. Recovery Pastor Randy Moraitis of the Crossing Church in Costa Mesa. Randy met with us on Wednesday; invited us to his church’s meeting on Friday; and attended the Saturday Conference with several colleagues. We were excited to see his Friday meeting, the many young people who attended, the “chip” celebrations, and the biblical teaching related to the Eleventh Step which was the topic of the evening.
9. Christian psychologist and radio personality Bob Noonan. Thursday, Bob hosted my two-
hour video presentation which will soon be on DVD to assist in the training of trainers.
10. Bobby Nicholl, Director of Admissions and Interventions at Celebrate a New Life, the Christian track program at Hope by the Sea, Thursday afternoon, Bobby met with us in company with a pastor to help us frame history segments in that arena. Bobby also exhibited at, participated in, and supported our May 2009 Conference in Southern California. Hope by the Sea is located in San Juan Capistrano.
11. Robert Tucker, Ph.D., President of New Life Spirit, at Huntington Beach, California. Thursday evening, we met with Dr. Tucker. He has a multi-faceted Christian recovery approach, embracing detox, treatment, Christian recovery counseling, sober living, and much more. He made his offices available to the newly-founded International Christian Recovery Coalition, and will be working with us on training and curricula.
12. Fr. Bill Wigmore, President of Austin Recovery, the largest treatment center in Texas.
Bill is currently working with leaders at the University of Texas, two Episcopal seminaries, a representative of Hazelden, and with us. We plan on assisting him on three DVD presentations: (1) Early A.A. History. (2) Twelve Step guidance. (3) An Eleventh Step-Quiet Time program. And this was one of the greatest outreach achievements we had seen up to that point.
13. John Townsend, Ph.D., Business Leadership Consulting and Coaching. Friday afternoon, we met with Dr. Townsend, a noted author and clinician. Bobby Nicholl and his assistant, and Pastor Jim Gaffney, also participated in that meeting. Many excellent suggestions for framing and carrying our information internationally were contributed by all.
14. The Crossing Church in Costa Mesa. Friday evening, at the invitation of Randy Moraitis, Pastor of Care and Recovery at The Crossing Church in Costa Mesa, we attended a large Lifelines Recovery meeting which effectively combined celebration of sobriety anniversaries with an Eleventh Step, biblically-oriented talk by a distinguished scientist. The meeting was alive with enthusiasm, rapt attention, and supportive behavior.
15. “A New Way Out Leadership Conference with Dick B.” Saturday, July 18, from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 PM, we addressed a conference of Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena, hosted by Celebrate a New Life at Hope by the Sea, San Juan Capistrano. The meeting was small but well attended, and allowed for a talk on the Christian origins, sources, roots and aspects of the Original A.A. program founded in Akron; and then an introduction, and time for questions and answers, from every member of the attending audience. Celebrate a New Life hosts Steve Wilson and Bobby Nicholl addressed the conference also.
Gregory Sipe, Director of Operations at Serenity Shores Recovery—“living solutions for sober people.” Just following the Conference, I had a rewarding talk with Gregory Sipe. Greg had an heartfelt interest in the relevance of early A.A. history.
16. David R. Saturday dinner was hosted by Christian AA David R. at one of his restaurants in Laguna Hills. After a long discussion with David, we found him eager to lead an outreach team for the International Christian Recovery Coalition in the Orange County Area—reaching out to alcoholics, addicts, clergy, AAs, prisons, treatment programs, Christian recovery leaders, etc.
17. David Powers and Rock Recovery in San Diego. Sunday, July 19, we drove to San Diego to learn more about Rock Recovery. First, we went to a newcomer orientation course in the home of David Powers. He did a masterful job of explaining to the newcomer the real importance of A.A. General Services Conference-approved literature in an effective Christian recovery program. Then, after a repast prepared by his wife, David took us on a tour of 12-Step faith-based sober living environment homes—including the ABC Sober Living home—a sober living component for the Rock Recovery program. Then a tour of Soledad Home for Women, located on Mount Soledad at the edge of La Jolla. We met a happening group of leaders who focus on zero tolerance sober living, the Twelve Steps, Quiet Time, Bible study, attendance at A.A. meetings, and weekly involvement with Rock Church—the largest church in San Diego.
18. Pat Robertson, President and Servant, and founder of CityTeam. Monday afternoon, July 20, we flew up to Oakland and had a brief discussion with Pat. A while back, at Pat’s invitation, I was privileged to address the CityTeam staff and newcomers at its Camp MayMac in the Santa Cruz Mountains, over a period of four days. Now, Pat—who has planted thousands of churches throughout the world—has a “Vision for You”—regarding the formation of new Twelve Step groups that embrace our “A New Way Out” ideas. We expect to plan much more in terms of training trainers to do just that.
19. “Dick B. Speaks about the Miracles of the Early Days of A.A.” Monday evening involved a huge A.A. history conference at Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore, hosted by its Turning Point Christian recovery fellowship. Among those attending were two of my sponsees who have stayed sober for around 20 years; a recovered healer who has reached out throughout the United States, in India, in Mexico, and elsewhere, and brought about miraculous healings; two people from CityTeam; plus AAs, NAs, church members, Turning Point members, recovery leaders, and many others. The response was amazing, and the entire trip was paid for and hosted by Cornerstone Fellowship and Turning Point people. Faithful AA. Dominic D. played the major role in arranging the whole venture, and we had excellent meetings with him.
COMING UP
1. A revised edition of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide by Dick B. and Ken B. This revised edition of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Manual will include things we have learned at the three sets of conferences in 2008 and 2009. It can be used by Christian leaders, counselors, pastors, speakers, sponsors, treatment leaders, clergy, and newcomers to find out how to bring the early A.A. recovery program to the fore as a choice for Christians and others in recovery today. For those who wish to support our work through purchasing the Guide, we will continue to make the 8 ½” x 11” book of around 150 pages available for $20 as a Microsoft Word 2003 (.doc) file attached to an email message, until we convert it to 6” x 9”, print-on-demand form (like nearly all other Dick B. books). We accept three forms of payment:
a. You may use the “Donate” button in the center column of the front page of the www.DickB.com web site (a PayPal account is not required);
b. You may send the following credit card information by email (preferably splitting the information over two email messages for security) to DickB@DickB.com: full name (as it appears on the credit card), billing address (associated with the credit card), telephone number (associated with the credit card), email address, and shipping address (if different from the billing address). Please include a cell phone number if you have one that is different from the phone number associated with the credit card so we can easily contact you if we have a problem processing your order; or
c. You may mail a check or money order, payable to “Dick B.”, in U.S. dollars drawn on a U.S. bank, to: Dick B., P.O. Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837.
2. We may be returning to California to speak at a Christian counselor conference in
August, and later in October to meet with Christian leaders to move forward with our plans to help frame, produce, and construct historical segments, and act as counselors for Christian recovery programs, efforts, and ideas.
3. “The First International Gathering of Recovered Saints in Maui with Dick B.” will be held in South Kihei on the Island of Maui from December 26, 2009 to January 2, 2010. This Gathering is for Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena who want to bring their families, enjoy a lovely holiday period in the best island—Maui, and fellowship with like-minded believers while lounging on the beach, swimming and surfing, viewing the gorgeous scenery, sunning, seeing rainbows and poinsettias in bloom, getting recharged for a new year as Ambassadors for Christ to the still-suffering alcoholics, addicts, and others with life-controlling problems, attending an A.A. meeting or two, and seeking out a church in which to worship during the period.
4. New DVD’s, audios, web postings, books, articles, and emails on early A.A.’s spiritual roots; the roles of God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in alcoholism recovery; and the astonishing successes which occurred when the pioneers placed their reliance on God.
5. Outreach by AAs, NAs, Christian recovery fellowships, Christian recovery leaders, Christian treatment, Christian-track, sober living, counselor certification and training, and conferences.
6. Free distribution of Dick B. titles as widely as possible, funded by benefactors, individual donors, entities, business and professional people, agencies, and churches—just as has been going on for the past 19 years.
7. Completion of stocking the Dr. Bob Core Library at North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont;
8. Funding a resource center for the 30 Dick B. “Historical Treasures.”
9. Carefully planned hospitality and outreach during the A.A. International Convention in San Antonio, Texas, in July 1-4, 2010.
Please stay tuned for information and details as time progresses!
Contact: Dick B., PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837; (808) 874-4876; DickB@DickB.com
Gloria Deo
:idea: