Chris R Step 12 Appalachian Roundup 2019Chris R Step 12 Appalachian Roundup 2019
Mad Dog Recovery AA Speakers
Chris Raymer shares his experience of Step Twelve, stressing sponsorship, service, and a clear Big Book message as keys to staying sober. Through humour and raw honesty, he talks about urgency, responsibility to newcomers, and the impact of truly giving recovery away to keep it.
1:04:27•28 Sept 2026
Chris R on Step Twelve: Carrying the Message and Getting Stuck In
Episode Overview
- Carrying the Big Book message and giving a clear description of the AA programme is presented as a primary responsibility to newcomers.
- Sponsorship is framed as urgent, with a focus on moving alcoholics quickly through the steps to a spiritual experience.
- Service work, such as answering phones or cleaning the club, is shown as a powerful way to build self-worth and stay connected to AA.
- Honesty in all areas of life, including relationships, money, and medications, is stressed as essential for long-term sobriety.
- Staying close to AA literature and history is encouraged to counter drift away from the original message and methods.
“"Keep coming back. It works if you work it is not an adequate presentation of the program."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This 2019 Appalachian Roundup talk from Chris Raymer (often known as Chris R) is all about Step Twelve and why carrying the AA message is life-or-death business, not just a nice extra. Chris speaks as a "recovered alcoholic" and mixes blunt humour with hard-earned experience.
He talks about nearly dying in 1987, being full of medications, and finally meeting "old crusty bastards" who sat him down with the Big Book and gave him what he calls "an adequate presentation of the program." For him, slogans like "keep coming back, it works if you work it" simply weren't enough: "Keep coming back.
It works if you work it is not an adequate presentation of the program." You'll hear about chip sale statistics from Texas and how they suggest fewer people are staying sober, despite modern treatment and medication. Chris argues that AA’s success rate dropped because many groups drifted away from the basic text and from active sponsorship, especially the kind that gets newcomers quickly into the steps and into service.
He shares stories of early service commitments, answering phones, cleaning the club, and how being given a job in AA helped shift him from suicidal and worthless to useful and connected. There’s plenty on practical sponsorship too: qualifying alcoholics, moving quickly through the steps, encouraging literature-based meetings, being honest about medications, and pushing people towards service and health rather than sitting on the sidelines.
This talk is aimed at anyone in recovery who feels stuck in meetings, unsure about sponsorship, or worried about being "not sober long enough" to help others. Chris keeps it real, funny, and challenging, all while returning to one core idea: "You’ve got to give it away to get it." If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re truly carrying the message, this one might nudge you to ask some bigger questions about your own Step Twelve.
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