Having a Sponsor Is Good but Being Sponsor-able Is the Requirement – Kent C.

About This Speaker Tape

Kent C. from Sandusky, Ohio shares his story at the Fellowship of the Spirit convention with 21 years of sobriety. He opens by quoting Dr. Bob on the simplicity of the program and immediately establishes his central theme: recovery depends on a relationship with Higher Power through living the 12 steps, not merely attending meetings. He traces the spiritual principles of AA back to his upbringing in a loving Christian home, walking through each step as something his parents and grandmother taught him before he ever heard of AA.

Kent describes growing up restless, irritable, and discontented despite a stable family. His older brother, a star football player headed to Ohio State, was his anchor and protector. When his brother died from a football injury in September 1972, 13-year-old Kent's already-present feelings of difference intensified. He made a conscious decision at 14 to reject everything his family stood for and direct his own life.

His first drink at around 15 transformed him from shy and insecure to bold and fearless in twenty minutes. He immediately connected alcohol to the acceptance and confidence he craved. His drinking progressed rapidly through college at Miami of Ohio, seven DUI convictions, felony weapons charges, a heart attack at 28, and liver failure. Despite promises to quit and desperate attempts including returning to church, he could not stop on his own.

A moment of clarity outside a bar led him to call a college friend who got him into treatment at Green Memorial Hospital. He got sober on May 17, 1992. After 250 meetings in three months with no sponsor or stepwork, he nearly relapsed, then found a sponsor who took him through the Big Book. In early sobriety he cared for his dying mother, who told him to stay with the people in AA because they did what the family could not. He later made amends to his father, who lived to see Kent's transformation. Kent emphasizes the total package of sponsorship, Big Book, steps, home group, and service as the path that works without exception.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening prayer and quotes Dr. Bob on keeping AA simple; states his core belief that recovery depends on relationship with Higher Power through living the 12 steps
• 5:00 Describes two groups in AA — those who come in and out getting worse, and those active in sponsorship, steps, home group, and service who stay sober
• 10:00 Explains the total package of AA — sponsorship, Big Book, steps, home group, and service — and challenges the idea that meeting attendance alone is recovery
• 15:00 Traces the 12 steps back to principles taught in his childhood home — honesty, belief in a higher power, making amends — step by step through his family's teachings
• 22:00 Brother's death from football injury in September 1972; mother's faith response at the funeral; Kent's decision at 14 to reject everything he was taught
• 30:00 First drink — riding through Sandusky with his friend Johnny, transformed from shy to fearless in 20 minutes, immediately connects alcohol to acceptance
• 38:00 Progression of alcoholism through college at Miami of Ohio, morning shakes at 19, bartender as his advisor, alcohol becomes the center of his life
• 45:00 Heart attack at 28, broken promise to Higher Power, moment of clarity outside a bar, calls his friend Richard who gets him into treatment at Green Memorial Hospital
• 52:00 250 meetings in three months with no stepwork nearly leads to relapse; finds a sponsor who takes him through the Big Book; begins living the program
• 57:00 Makes amends to his dying mother who tells him to stay with the people in AA; father's transformation from shame to pride; closes with Warren Chisholm quote that no one who follows the program need ever drink again