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::: Joe & Charlie Big Book
Study :::
10 CD set Big Book Study. Listen
to a sample
$69.95
- Very popular, over 862 sets sold!
Note: Due to the copyright laws as of the
actual recording date of these
CD recordings, these CDs contain No
Copyright © Infringements.
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go back
Joe McQ and
Charlie P met in 1973 when Joe introduced
Charlie as the AA speaker at an ALAnon
convention. Joe had wondered if Charlie P
might be the country singer Charlie Pride.
"he wasn't even the right color,"
Joe laments.
They instantly discovered their mutual
fascinations with AA's basic textbook,
Alcoholics Anonymous commonly called
"The Big Book". What interested
them mostly was that The Big Book was
written a particular sequence to convey
certain ides. That interest became close
friendship, which has lasted over 20 years.
They would frequently meet to discuss The
Big Book, often driving 225 miles to meet in
each other's homes. Soon they were planning
meetings in hotel rooms at AA conventions in
Oklahoma and Arkansas and, within a few
years, the meetings grew in popularity.
In 1977, some AA members met in a Tulsa,
Oklahoma hotel room for a discussion on The
Big Book. One member asked Joe and Charlie
to come to his home group to present a
program on The Big Book. A taping of that
presentation was made and called "The
Big Book Study". Through the
circulation of these audio tapes throughout
the Fellowship, Joe and Charlie received
invitations to present the Study at AA
conventions, roundups and special events. By
1980, there were about eight studies offered
each year.
At the AA International Convention in New
Orleans in 1980, Wesley P, an impassioned AA
"Big Booker" from Pompano Beach,
Florida, organized a lunch for 1,500 AA
members from all over the world and gave
away 100 Joe & Charlie tape sets as door
prizes. Invitations exploded, and within a
couple of years Joe & Charlie were
presenting about 36 seminars a year
worldwide.
These seminars struck a deep chord within
the AA members ... for the reaffirmation of
"this message" as written April
1939 with the publication of the first
edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. Big Book
Studies presented by Joe & Charlie have
been given in all 50 states as well as most
Canadian provinces in addition to Australia,
New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland,
Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Holland.
Joe & Charlie have been invited to take
the Big Book Study to Iceland in August of
1998.
The
original Joe, Joe McQ, has had to cut back
his traveling in recent years. Oddly enough,
another Joe - Joe McC (who was active in the
study group since the beginning) has been
able to pick up the slack. "where God
guides, God provides", as some members
say.
Joe & Charlie are not paid for their
services. In fact, the only financial
compensation they receive are their travel
expenses, meals, and lodging which are paid
for by the independent host committee
sponsoring the Big Book Studies. Further,
this is in accordance with the AA Guidelines
of Conferences & Conventions (MG4),
published by the General Service Office.
In the past 24 years, an estimated 200,000
members of various 12 step programs have
experienced the spiritual benefits of these
collective seminars. One of their stops was
at the Melville Marriot in Melville - Long
Island NY over the weekend of June 19 - 21.
1998. I was privileged to be amongst the
400+ people who were there. They start at
the chapter - The Doctors Opinion, and over
the course of the next 2 days take us all
the way through to the final words of the
chapter - A Vision for You - "We shall
be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit,
and you will surely meet some of us as you
trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God
bless you and keep you - until then."
(Page 164).
In between they show us how simple and
uncomplicated it can be to complete a Fourth
Step Inventory, as well as allowing us to
hear the experience, strength, and hope that
they have been fortunate to enjoy in many,
many years of spiritual sobriety. They both
showed all of us that It works - It really
works ! all we have to do is follow the
directions given to us by the first 68
members of AA who spent time with Bill
Wilson and gave the world Alcoholics
Anonymous (Big Book) in 1939.
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