They Threw Out 400 Pages About Higher Power From the Big Book and Wondered Why the Miracles Stopped – Dick B.

About This Speaker Tape

Dick B., a prolific AA historian and author with over 24 years of sobriety, delivers a passionate lecture on the Christian origins of Alcoholics Anonymous at a church-based recovery fellowship in Auburn. Introduced by the group's leader Dale, Dick explains how his own obsession with AA history led him to research three distinct early programs: the original 1935 Akron fellowship founded by Dr. Bob, the Big Book program published in 1939, and Clarence Snyder's Cleveland group that same year. His son Ken assists by reading key passages from AA conference-approved literature throughout the talk.

Dick walks through the Frank Amos report submitted to John D. Rockefeller, which documented seven points of the early Akron program — five required and two important but not vital — all rooted in surrender to Higher Power, daily devotions, Bible reading, and helping other alcoholics. He details fourteen specific practices of early AA drawn from Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers, including daily Christian fellowship meetings, Bible study of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13, hospitalization of newcomers, and members living together in recovery homes. Dick emphasizes that this original program produced a 75% success rate among severe cases.

He traces how the program changed when Bill Wilson wrote the Big Book, replacing direct references to Higher Power with phrases like "power greater than ourselves" and "as we understood Him" to appease atheists and agnostics. Dick argues these compromises led to the modern absurdity of people claiming rocks, chairs, or people named Ralph as their higher power. He highlights the Cleveland program under Clarence Snyder, which combined the Big Book, 12 steps, the Bible, and the Oxford Group's four absolutes — honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love — achieving a 93% success rate.

Dick closes with a practical call to action, urging listeners to obtain and distribute his training class on Christian recovery foundations, his guidebook, the P53 co-founders pamphlet, Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers, the Akron AA pamphlets, and Clarence Snyder's step guide. He envisions churches becoming AA-friendly, Bible-friendly recovery centers that fill the loneliness vacuum of early sobriety through fellowship, Bible study, and outreach to treatment centers, missions, and jails.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Dale introduces Dick B. and Ken, describes how he discovered DickB.com and arranged their visit to Auburn
• 3:00 Dick opens with early AA as a family program and thanks the group for food, music, and enthusiasm
• 5:00 First program: the original Akron fellowship — Dick reads Dr. Bob's description from the P53 co-founders pamphlet
• 9:00 Ken reads the Frank Amos report's seven points from page 131 of Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers
• 14:00 Ken reads the fourteen practices of early Akron AA, including hospitalization, daily fellowship, and Bible study
• 22:00 Second program: the Big Book — Dick reads key passages including 'rarely have we seen a person fail' and Dr. Bob's testimonial on page 181
• 30:00 Third program: Clarence Snyder's Cleveland group — the four absolutes, Big Book, Bible, and 93% success rate
• 36:00 How the 12 steps were changed to appease atheists and agnostics — removal of direct Higher Power references
• 42:00 Dick's vision for training the trainers — the four-hour class, guidebook, and documentation resources
• 50:00 Call to action: distribute P53 pamphlets, Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers, Akron pamphlets, and support church-based recovery outreach