Active Participation Not Passive Attendance, the Movement of AA – Johnnie H.

About This Speaker Tape

Johnnie H. from California speaks at the Georgia State Convention in Atlanta in 1984. This talk focuses not on his drinking story but on what it means to be an active, participating member of the movement of Alcoholics Anonymous.

He describes the trap of people who come to meetings expecting entertainment — they show up at 8:29, expect a chair, coffee, a speaker, and think their obligation ends when they put a dollar in the basket. His sponsor's rule: if anybody talks about Higher Power for over five minutes from the podium, do not ask them for a ride home.

The core message is the difference between the fellowship and the program. The fellowship is the camaraderie, the visiting and hugging. The program is the 12 steps. He warns that many people between 5 and 25 years of sobriety disappear because they think the fellowship will keep them sober, and it will not. Only a Higher Power can relieve alcoholism.

He went 22 years without a sponsor after his first sponsor died, trying to sponsor himself through the people he sponsored. It nearly destroyed him — his emotions always won over his intellect. He finally went to Clancy and asked for sponsorship. Clancy smiled and said: will you do what I tell you?

He describes AA as learning to live inside the rooms so you can apply it outside. The real thing starts Monday morning when you go out into the world. He closes by saying he is not the miracle — he is a part of the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous. And all he has to do is quit doing the things that make him comfortable in AA and he will wake up drunk.

Topics

Timestamps

• 00:00 What it means to be an active participating member of AA
• 08:00 People who show up expecting entertainment and put a dollar in the basket
• 16:00 The difference between the fellowship and the program of twelve steps
• 24:00 People between five and twenty-five years who disappear from AA
• 32:00 Twenty-two years without a sponsor trying to sponsor himself through others
• 40:00 Going to Clancy and asking for sponsorship — will you do what I tell you
• 48:00 Learning to live inside the rooms so you can apply it outside
• 56:00 Quit doing the things that make you comfortable and you will wake up drunk