Recommending for AAs: Anne Smith's Journal 1933-1939 in Study Groups - a Dick B. Response

Dear Paula: Thank you for writing, and I enjoyed your points and your plans. 

Our latest two books – “Stick with the Winners!” and “Pioneer Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous” lay the foundation for studies and learning that begins with A.A. Conference-approved literature, focuses on the role of God and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible, and accurately familiarizes with these elements those who want the real history instead of self-made religion, nonsense gods, and pseudo-spirituality. I would hope you will obtain a copy of each of these books as a general guide.

We strongly encourage and help others organize study groups; and many of my books propose the subjects, the formats, and the resources. 

And now to Anne Ripley Smith and Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939. I learned about Anne’s journal from lengthy conferences with Dr. Bob’s daughter Sue Windows and his son Robert R. Smith. I think the importance of Anne and her work involves all the following ingredients: (1) Anne was the one who had a Quiet Time and read the Bible to Bill and Bob each day in the beginning. Like those two, she stressed the importance of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13. (2) Soon she was gathering at the Smith home each morning a large number of alkies, their families, and their friends and covering the contents of the Bible, her journal, some devotionals, group prayer, topical discussion, and love. (3) She began keeping her journal in 1933 and continued until 1939. (4) In a very real sense, she was and was called the “Mother of A.A.” and a founder of Akron Number One. (5) In 1936, she launched a women’s group in Akron. (6) For several years she counseled Lois Wilson and some of her “kitchen group” in New York as they struggled with their alkies and family problems. (7) Those who are knowledgeable regard her as one of the founding people in Al-Anon because so many of her ideas were transmitted and utilized by Lois and her consorts. (8) In the Smith Home, she acted as cook, counselor, nurse, evangelist, Bible reader, prayer leader, literature enthusiast, and a regular outreacher to newcomers—men and women. (9) It is quite clear from her journal that she became thoroughly conversant with the 28 Oxford Group principles I discuss at length in The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml. (10) In fact, drawing on the Oxford Group ideas that Wilson later incorporated in his “new version” of the program—the Big Book and 12 Steps—she covered in a very practical way each of the major ideas such as Quiet Time, Prayer, Bible study, Jesus Christ, the Four Absolutes, the 5 C’s, literature of life-changing and love, and many practical suggestions for dealing with drunks and comporting one’s life according to the teachings of Jesus. (11) Anne was a regular attender at the early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship meetings and was legendary for her work with women and newcomers. (12) Her life-long fidelity  to and forgiveness of Dr. Bob, as well as her untrammeled support for his work with drunks, make her a major factor in the success of early A.A.—albeit humble, unassuming, and reliant on the Creator for love, guidance, healing, and help in her work with others. (13) One of Anne’s important statements in the journal is: “Of course, the Bible ought to be the main Source Book of all. Not a day should pass without reading it.” And she practiced this herself-fervently.

I think you could do no better for your study group than to start off Anne Smith’s Journal. I will have Ken contact you regarding resource costs; and I believe he can propose an economical solution that will enable you to have a book for every one of your members. 

Your plans are welcome, and I urge you to keep in touch with us if we can be of help in your continued love and service. Thank you again for writing.

A New Training and Publication Approach Coming from The Good Book Publishing Group Thanks in Part to Take 12 Radio.com

A special message for Monty man and the crew at Take12Radio.com.

Monty has been blasting away now for a number of years, giving his all to present a broad array of speakers who care about alcoholism and addiction recovery  and are doing something about it.

Today, this support still extends to www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com and broadens the audience that hears the frequent interviews with Ken B. as host and A.A. author and historian Dick B. as interviewer. The Dick B. talks about the Christian roots of Alcoholics Anonymous, the importance of the Bible today and in the original A.A. Akron Christian Fellowship program have been going on for a number of years now. And Monty has provided much of the early radio assistance that has been heard round the globe.

Sometimes, Dick has presented his materials on special blogs like www.dickb-blog.com; and there has been lots of discussion about the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, old school A.A., the Conversion of Bill W., Dr. Bob's excellent training in the Bible. And they haven't overlooked key A.A. shapers like Dr. Bob Smith, Bill Wilson, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Dr. William D. Silkworth, Professor William James, Dr. Carl Jung, Rev. W. Irving Harris, Dr. Frank Buchman, and a host of writers participating in A First Century Christian Fellowship (later called the Oxford Group), and some of its activists like Rev. Sherwood S. Day, James Draper Newton, Eleanor Forde, Dr. Morris Martin, Garth Lean, Michael Hutchinson, Cecil Rose, Howard Rose, A.J. Russell, Harold Begbie, Stephen Foote, T. Willard Hunter, George Vondermuhll, Jr., Richard Ruffin, and a number of others. As well as the Akron spark plugs like Russell Firestone, Harvey Firestone, St., Dr. Walter Tunks, Henrietta B. Seiberling, Anne Ripley Smith, T. Henry and Clarace Williams, Clarence Snyder, Ed Andy, and a good many others.

The information has sometimes been posted on the International Christian Recovery Coalition site www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com; the Dr. Bob special site http://drbob.info; Freedom Ranch Maui Incorporated, and the main Dick B. Alcoholics Anonymous History site www.dickb.com.

Today the radio and video presentations of A.A. authors and  historians Dick B. and Ken B. are available on Christian Recovery Radio.com; on Public Talk Radio; and on Take 12 Radio.com, as well as other programs before which the authors have been asked to speak.

And 2014 will see a new change in the efforts of Dick B. and Ken B. to "train the trainers" by feeding them accurate, truthful, comprehensive Alcoholics Anonymous History as well as the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in "old school" A.A. and can play today for people in recovery who want God's help.

Here's what you will see, beginning January 1, 2014

•  Production of all materials will be handled by The Good Book Publishing Company Group

•  Publication of books will be handled by Paradise Research Publications, Inc

•  Marketing of books, pamphlets, DVD's and videos will be handled by Good Book     Publishing Company.

• Conferences and speakers will be drawn from the host of participants in International Christian Recovery Coalition, of which Dick B. is Executive Director.

• Videos and Guide Books will be produced by The Good Book Publishing Company Group, funded as benefactors contribute to the effort as they have done for so many years.

• Radio interviews and presentations will be expanded as much as manpower and time permit:

(1) Ken B. will continue to manage and host the Christian Recovery Radio presentations.

(2) Dick B. and Ken B. will contact the speakers to be interviewed; and both Dick B. and Ken B. will often provide historically researched accurate materials.

(3) The folks interviewed will be expanded to include:

(a) Participants, leaders, and workers in International Christian Recovery Coalition; Recovery Pastors and Christian Recovery Fellowship Leaders; Successful authors, religious leaders, chaplains, directors of missions, treatment programs, Christian counseling, sober Christian residential facilities, dedicated historians and writers, and garden variety drunks and drug addicts who can and will do more than tell war stories and drunkalogs, or talk about their Twelve Step achievements. They will be urged to help remedy the weakness prevailing today among speakers, sponsors, secretaries, and newcomers who need to be taught, learning, and telling their audiences about:

(i) The actual biblical origins of A.A.

(ii) The Christian influences--particularly those in Vermont--that figured in the Christian upbringing and experiences of Ebby Thacher, Bill Wilson, Robert H. Smith, Rowland Hazard, Shepard Cornell, Cebra Graves, James Newton, W. Irving and Julia Harris, and Frank Buchman.

(iii) How the first three AAs got sober before Big Books, Steps, Traditions, and War Stories

(iv)The guts of the Christian program, principles, and practices that made up the heart of  "old school Akron A.A., and the early Akron A.A.'s Christian Fellowship which qualified and hospitalized newcomers; insisted on abstinence and determination to go to any lengths; urged Christian fellowship among members, stressed the Bible and prayer and Quiet Time; emphasized service to others; and brought people into a relationship with God through acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior..

(v) Enjoyed the freedom to go to a religious service of their own choosing; engage in Christian fellowship and comradeship with people of their own choosing; read Christian, psychological, medical, history, and other books and literature of their own choosing; serve God and others in ways of their own choosing; break bread together; pray together, study devotionals and observe Quiet Time together, and freely discuss together the implications of the foregoing without governance, control, barriers, and prohibitions.

(vi)Their own techniques, experiences, and successes in working with others.

(vi) Later, in 1939, the Big Book as they understood it as well as the personal testimonies in the Big Book.

(vii) How they followed the instructions in the Big Book for "taking the Twelve Steps."

(viii) What their efforts with others produced in the renewal of their own minds to God's Word, liberty, and love, and in the practice of the principles, obedience, and conduct called for in God's Word.

(ix) What new thoughts and new deeds they had learned and put on;what old ungodly ideas of their old nature they had put off;how they had, with God's help, avoided temptation and disobedience of God's word; and how they were forgiven for their errors when they repented and sought God's pardon.

• Continued emphasis on the unity that comes from the International Christian Recovery Coalition slogans that we are and will be Recovery friendly, A.A. friendly, Bible friendly, Fellowship friendly, and Friendly friendly.

• Recognizing that the slogans "First Things First" came from "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you;" "Live and Let Live" can be likened to "Love your neighbor as yourself;" "Easy Does It" came from "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient  unto the daily is the evil thereof; "But for the grace of God. . ."to "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" and
  "For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of your selves: It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast."

• Conservation of costs and expenses can and will be achieved by reducing travel to and holding of large conferences; producing newsletters, books, and articles; and expending large amounts of money on website optimization, revision, management, consultation, and design.

• Utilizing our 24 years of research, travel, interviews, contacts, conferences, publications, and meetings by use of radio, blogs, social media, videos, and phones to train the trainers and do our best to inform Christians and those who want God's help and may need to learn more, know more, and do more. And  this technique has certainly been in progress by existing means heretofore

Christian Prison Ministry Leader Marty A. Gives Powerful Radio Interview on his book Once Life Matters:A New Beginning

Dick B. interviews author Marty A. on the Wednesday, December 4, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show

 

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

Dick B.

© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

You can hear this interview right now; and, if you tune in, you will hear a very very articulate musical celebrity, former drug addict, prisoner, and dedicated servant of the Lord

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

You may hear Dick B. interview author Marty A. on the December 4, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show here:

 

http://mcaf.ee/zusgm

 

or here:

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2013/12/04/dick-b-interviews-author-marty-a

 

Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:

 

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

                          

 

Introduction

 

Our guest today, Marty A., captured my attention when he graciously sent me his book "Once Life Matters: A New Beginning." But it was not just another drunkalog or war story. It describes Marty's unusual musical career, contact with celebrities, ups and downs, and bouts with drugs and alcohol. But its principal appeal is its picture of a cured addict who is an example for thousands of recovered Christians who have emerged from their drug-filled holes, met inspired recovery leaders, focused on prisoners' freedom, and reported dramatic conversions to God through Jesus Christ. Marty's accounts reminded me that Ken and I had the pleasure of befriending Bishop Frank Costantino, a man who emerged from life as a gangster, followed by time in prison, to head up a huge prison relief program. And Frank endorsed and funded several of our books. Marty reminded me of our friend Mickey Evans of Dunklin Memorial Church in Okeechobee. We spent lots of time with Mickey, spoke at meetings with him, and marveled at his success in the swamps bringing men out of prison, into the Bible, and back to families and productive work.

 

We hope Marty will tell us of his family, bumpy career, powerful conversion, and time spent with his sister and a minister friend who led him to be born again. He shows how a New York pastor got him grounded in the Word of God; and how he began attending church and speaking at youth meetings, and participating in meetings sponsored by Full Gospel Business Men. He met a supportive police officer before he was sentenced to prison. He sought Frank Costantino's prison ministry; and, in prison, worked with Jews for Jesus and other Christians who wanted better lives. That work brought him to well-known prison ministries like those of Murph the Surf, "Pappy" Eastham, Chuck Colson, and Mickey Evans. Now, take it away Marty.

 

Synopsis

 

Christians and those wanting God’s help in overcoming alcoholism, addiction, and sin will welcome this book by Marty A., titled Once Life Matters: A New Beginning. It is filled with details about Marty’s stellar music career, his rubbing noses with celebrities, his getting caught in the desire and temptation for drugs in the 1960’s, his arrest and conviction and imprisonment, and his complete life-changing turnabout when he became born again of the spirit of God and devoted some 30 years to serving God and others. Particularly in the prison ministry field, working with such leaders as Bishop Frank Costantino, Murf the Surf, Mickey Evans, Chaplain Ray, Chuck Coulson, and David Wilkerson.

 

I really don’t want to summarize or detail the words of Marty. They are too good for that. But I will emphasize some of the high points you will hear in this radio show:

 

Marty was caught up in the temptations, counterfeits, and desires common to many successful celebrities. And his career as a music celebrity tanked. Through the prayers and efforts of his sister and her minister friend, he was born again. In his book, he lists all the appropriate King James Version verses involved in the promises of the Bible which, when confessed and believed enable the promise to become a child of  the living God.

 

Marty emphasizes that he was a sinner, in need of redemption, salvation, and transformation. And his thankfulness goes to the assurance in the Bible that he has Christ in him, the hope of glory. Then there’s the need for what some call “progressive sanctification.” Which means that the devil doesn’t give up trying to counterfeit and tempt. And the believer has to fight the battle described in Ephesians 6 by putting on the whole armor of God and telling the devil to take a hike.

 

Marty offered a free copy of his book to anyone who has listened to this program and contacts him. They may get the contact information through dickb@ dickb.com. And Marty is now revising his book, and I look forward to reading the new version.

Recovery Pastor: Don't Dump A.A. or Your Christian Recovery Meetings. Just Love!

Christian Recovery Pastor: Don’t Leave A.A. and Don’t Dump Christian Meetings

Just Remember the Greatest Thing in the World

Dick,

In my humble opinion there is only one way to combat these changes. This is for Christians to quit exiting AA for Christ Center Recovery meetings. Of course as a recovery pastor I am not suggesting we forget about our Christ Centered recovery meetings. What I am suggesting is that we need to do both. We need to be able to share our faith at AA while staying within the traditions. We need to educate our folks about AA history and the use of the word God over 400 times in the Big Book. As Christians we are free share our faith as it personally relates to our recovery. If some are offended they will get over it if we persistently use our most powerful weapon.

We must remember that if we abandon AA there will not be Christians in the rooms to offer our experience strength and hope. It is so easy to get discouraged by some of the things that happen in the rooms but we have the greatest weapon of all, God's love, to share in a way our fellow Christians cannot. Why? Because we earned the seats in the rooms and we've experienced God's miracles in our lives.

Always remember what Paul told us, love is The Greatest Thing in The World. (See Henry Drummond for a great presentation on how to love?)

Yours in Christ

DM

Recovery Pastor

 

Will You Choose Atheism as Your Tool for Recovery Today!

Dick B.:

For those in recovery concerned about the you-can-do-it-by-yourself wave, this will be short.

We know that in 1939, Bill Wilson and three others--one a secretary, one a salesman, one the son of a Christian minister, and Bill--took it on themselves to appease atheists and agnostics by removing God from the Twelve Steps and soon including all the weird concepts of spirituality, nonsense gods, higher powers that are rocks or light bulbs, and not-god-ness. See Bill W.'s own explanation of his reluctant surrender to the little group our four. Alcoholics Anonymous Coms of Age, pages 166 and 167.

It has taken decades for the unbelievers to step up and begin dismantling God, prayer, the Bible, and Christianity from the real A.A. history scene.

A telling new website has this to say:

"There is an increasing number of groups within AA that are not religious in their thinking or practice. These groups don’t recite prayers at the beginning or ending of their meetings nor do they suggest that a belief in God is required to get sober or to maintain sobriety. If the readings at their meetings include AA’s suggested program of recovery, then a secular or humanist version of the 12 Steps is shared."

Pages and pages of revised, distorted, unrepresentative history promote the theme.

Radio Interveiw: John S. of Norco California, and the Growth of the Norco James Clubs

Dick B. interviews Christian Recovery leader John S. on the December 2, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show found at:

 

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

Copyright 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

You may hear this broadcast right now!

______________________________________________________________________________

 

You may listen to Dick B. interview Christian Recovery leader John S. on the December 2, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show here:

 

http://mcaf.ee/52o67

 

or here:

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2013/12/02/dick-b-interviews-christian-recovery-leader-john-s

 

Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:

 

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Introduction

 

This morning's guest is John S. of Norco, California. John is a long-recovered Christian recovery fellowship leader. And he has been the most successful organizer and perpetuator of James Clubs in the International Christian Recovery Coalition. John attended our May 2009 conference of leaders at Mariners Church Community Center in Irvine, California. And he was among those who had met with a not-unusual barrier from a local 12 Step office trying to block the work of the James Clubs. But John plunged ahead with this effort. He held a large Christian recovery conference at his church in Norco. I have spoken there, and my son Ken has also spoken in Norco. John wrote a manual for James Clubs. And he rested his efforts on the very clear language of A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob that the early AAs believed the answers to their problems were in the Good Book and that they considered Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13 to be absolutely essential to their program--a program that was succeeding long before there were any Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, Big Books, War Stories, or meetings like those we know today. Bill and Bob had both said that James was their favorite. They both said that the Sermon on the Mount contained the underlying spiritual philosophy of A.A. And the early members wanted to call their Society "The James Club." In Norco, John saw local people growing in number with this concept and also expanding the number of clubs in their churches and in Norco. Today, John will tell you a little about his family, education, airplane activities, recovery efforts, Christian affiliations, and the progress of the James Club movement. John will tell you how they began, grew, expanded, and blessed those who followed the path. Take it away, John.

 

Synopsis

 

The thrust of John’s remarks was detailing how his James Club groups in Norco have used the Big  Book, the Twelve Steps, the Bible, prayers, laying on of hands, and leading drunks to Jesus Christ—just as was done in early A.A.  The interesting thing is that local clubs and A.A. leaders went to any lengths to prevent meetings where the Bible was even in the room. They barred the meetings from the directory. They attended meetings and proclaimed that the James Clubs could not do what the early AAs did and what the highly successful Cleveland Groups did. When Cleveland A.A. was organized in May, 1939, the members brought with them the Twelve Steps, the Big Book, the Oxford Group Four Absolutes, the Bible, and “most of the old program” (meaning the Akron practices of qualification, hospitalization, prayers, quoting of Scripture, and growing growing growing) – the fastest growing group in A.A. and one which surveyed and documented a 93% success rate.

 

When the Norco groups asked local leaders what authority they had for barring the Bible from meetings, they said they didn’t know. And they were emphatic that you couldn’t have Christian meetings.

 

The fact is that Dr. Bob’s Bible, for many years, was brought from the back of the room to the podium and rested there throughout the meeting. At the end, the Bible was retired to the back of  the room to await the next meeting. That Bible contained inscriptions to the Akron meeting signed by Bill Wilson, Dr. Robert Smith, and A.A. Number Three (Bill D.). This fact is noted in A.A.’s own conference-approved book – DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers.

 

The Norco James Clubs have now grown to four in number, and the clubs themselves have consistently grown in attendance. One of the concepts followed is learning to be open-minded about those who are close-minded. And this call for unity sets an example for other groups which serve and glorify God and Jesus Christ and have Bible studies. It stands as a challenge to the ever-increasing number of “agnostica” meetings, atheist meetings, “spiritual meetings,” and higher powered meetings.

AA History: Why the State of Vermont is a Key to the Christian Upbringing and Beliefs of A.A.'s Bill W. and Dr. Bob

Dick B.
Copyright 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved.

The "Rest of the Story" on the Vermont Christian upbringing of A.A.'s Cofounders, Bill W. and Dr. Bob.

At long last, the entire state of Vermont is beginning to come alive on the relationship of A.A.'s cofounders to that state, the similarity of the cofounders'  Christian upbringing there, and the immensity of the varied influences the Green Mountain State had on Bill and Bob.

Here is a comment just made to keep the new play writes, producers, authors, and accounts accurate:

There is now a brand new book, which is partly the product of the research work of a large group of AAs who traveled with Dick B. and Ken B. to St. Johnsbury. The title is  Bill W. and Dr. Bob. the Green Mountain Men of Vermont: The Roots of Early A.A.'s Original Program.

This new book by A,A. authors and historians Dick B. and Ken B. provides the full panoply of similar events in the lives of Bill and Bob in Vermont, and of the people and places there who influenced them: (1) East Dorset Congregational Church, (2) Manchester Congregational Church, (3) North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, (4) Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester, (5) St. Johnsbury Academy, (6) the Young Men's Christian Association, (7) Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, (8) Ebby Thacher, (9) Rev. Sidney Perkins of Manchester Congregational Church, (10) Roger Perkins, (11) Rogers Burnham. (12) the Burnham family, including Lois--who "summered" in Manchester and nearby Emerald Lake. (13) Bill's girl-friend Bertha Bamford, (14) Bertha Bamford's father, the Episcopal Rector in Manchester, (15) Rowland Hazard, (16) F. Shepard Cornell, (17) Cebra Graves, (18) Cebra's father--the judge who heard Ebby's case.  (19) Judge Walter Smith, Bob's father, (20) Mrs. Susan Smith, Bob's mother, (21) Amanda Northrup, his foster sister, and (22) his maternal grandmother, (23) the entire Fairbanks family of St. Johnsbury, (24) the Great Evangelists who came to St. Johnsbury (Dwight Moody, Ira Sankey, Allen Folger, and several others), (25) Bill's boyhood friend Mark Whalon, (26) Bill's mother who is buried at East Dorset, (27) Bill's father, and the activity of the Wilson couple in Congregationalism, (28) Bill's grandfather Willie Wilson who was a founder of East Congregational Church, owned a family pew [15] there, and held position of leadership in the church, and  who was cured of alcoholism in a conversion experience atop Mt. Aeolus at East Dorset, (29) Bill's grandfather Fayette Griffith who enrolled Bill in Sunday school, enrolled him in Burr and Burton Seminary and frequently studied the Bible with Bill. Fayette's family regarded the East Dorset Congregational Church as their family church; and Bill's parents were married there.

(30) Burr and Burton Seminary played a major role in Bill's Christian upbringing. Bill there took a four year Bible study course; attended daily chapel at the seminary where there were sermons, hymns, reading of Scripture, and prayers; attended events at Manchester Congregational Church which had close connections with the seminary; became president of the Young Men's Christian Association there at the same time his girl friend Bertha Bamford was president of the Young Women's Christian Association and the two attended "Y" activities together. When Bertha died unexpectedly, Bill couldn't complete his studies or graduate from Burr and Burton because of a deep depression.

Bill blamed God for his girl friend's death; and he turned his back on God until, many years later. Then, at the urging of Dr. Silkworth and Ebby, Bill went to Calvary Mission and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, just as Ebby had done before him. Bill wrote "For sure I was born again." And he staggered on to Towns Hospital, cried out to God for help, had a "white light" experience in his hospital room, said to himself: "Bill, you are a free man. This is the God of the Scriptures." Bill was sure he had had a vital religious experience. He was cured of alcoholism. He never again doubted the existence of God. And he believed he had been commissioned to carry his victory message to alcoholics round the world.

And there is one other facet of Bill's Christian upbringing. He finally returned to Norwich University--the military academy which also had daily chapel and where Ebby matriculated with Bill.

The remarkable similarity in the Vermont Christian upbringing of these two co-founders involves their families who attended Congregational Churches, their association with Young Men's Christian Association, their attendance at academies which had the same Christian requirements--church, Bible study, daily chapel, and prayer meetings, and grandparents who further encouraged and supported their attendance.

There are three books which bring "the rest of the story" home to those who want to hear it and want God's help in recovery: (1) The Conversion of Bill W. www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml. (2) Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Bible as a Youngster in Vermont. www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml. (3) Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Men of Vermont: The Roots of Early A.A.'s Original Program, by Dick B. and Ken B.

Dozens and dozens of photos that can open the scene to you can be found at http://drbobinfo.