“Stick With The Winners” Old School A.A. Resources
(Numbers 12, 13, 14); (12 Dick B., That
Amazing Grace) ; (13) Mitchell
K., How It Worked; (14) Our
Legacy, by Three Oldtimer Clarence Snyder Sponsees and Their Wives
Dick B.
International Christian Recovery Coalition Old School
A.A. Resources, Numbers 12, 13, 14 – plus the newly published Dick B. Guide, Stick with theWinners: How To Conduct More
Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings.
Number Twelve: Dick B., That Amazing Grace: The Roles of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics
Anonymous (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, 1996)
This
is the book where Dick B. and Ken B. visited Grace Moore Snyder at her home in
Florida and interviewed her for a week as to the beliefs, life, Alcoholics
Anonymous contributions, Step techniques, Biblical approaches, literature read,
family retreats, and other details concerning her late husband Clarence H.
Snyder and the founding of the Cleveland A.A. Group in 1939.
Clarence
was sponsored by A.A. Cofounder Dr. Bob and organized the first Alcoholics
Anonymous group in Cleveland—which grew from one group to thirty in a year,
attained a 93% success rate, kept rosters, utilized the Cleveland Central bulletin, Clarence’s pamphlet on Sponsorship, his
pamphlet Going Through the Steps, and
his idea of rotating leadership.
Number Thirteen: Mitchell K., How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of
Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio (Washingtonville, NY: A.A. Big Book
Study Group, 1997)
From
Clarence Snyder’s widow, Grace, Mitchell K. obtained the papers of Clarence
Snyder and used them to prepare the above biography of Clarence and of the
Cleveland A.A. beginnings. He covers Clarence’s story, his relationship with
Dr. Bob and Anne Smith, his contributions to A.A., and his positions on the
Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions, the Four Absolutes, the Oxford Group, the
Bible, hospitalization, rotating leadership, and
Sponsorship
Number Fourteen: Our
A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community: A Twelve-Step Guide for Those Who Want to
Believe, by Three Clarence Snyder Sponsee Old-Timers and Their Wives, compiled
and edited by Dick B. (Winter Park, FL: Came to Believe Publications, 2005).
Three
of Clarence Snyder’s sponsees, who spent a great deal of time with both
Clarence and Clarence’s wife Grace, have been conducting Life Enrichment
Retreats (originally founded by Clarence) for many years. With the help of
their wives, they drafted a complete workbook telling exactly how Clarence took
his sponsees through the Twelve Steps.
Ample
citations to the Big Book and the Bible are provided, as well as a guide for
leaders of the retreats.
Clarence’s
three male sponsee contacted Dick B., the A.A. historian and writer who had
attended and spoken at many Clarence Snyder retreats, become well-acquainted
with the three oldtimer sponsees and their wives, interviewed Mitchell K. and
helped him prepare his biography, and wrote That
Amazing Grace.
The
Step and Leader guide is the product of at least a year’s work by the three
sponsees and Dick B.; and Dick B. then compiled the Guide and added the
explanatory Foreword, historical materials, appendices, and numerous
bibliographic references and citations.
This
Guide is now used at almost every Snyder retreat and by many AAs, their
families, and other recovery folks who conduct their own seminars, classes,
retreats, and fellowships.
Plus the Just Released Title by Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the Winners How to Conduct More Effective
12-Step Recovery Meetings Using Conference-approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide
for Christian Leaders and Workers in the Recovery Arena (Kihei, HI:
Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2012).
This
Guide was written and compiled to help the hundreds who have contacted Dick B.
and asked for suggestions as to how to conduct Old School A.A. meetings today, how
to enable them to utilize present-day A.A. Fellowship materials, and how to use
the biblical roots and history of A.A. to achieve more effective 12-Step
recovery meetings.
The
Guide has been circulated initially by inexpensive email attachments and
downloads; has been used in California and Hawaii recently to establish such groups; and will be widely
available soon for use throughout the reach of International Christian Recovery
Coalition (www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com),
and at its May, 1012 meetings, classes, workshops, and conferences in Southern
California
Gloria
Deo
No comments:
Post a Comment