Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

🧡New Merch!☀️We finally got around to releasing our collection of light-hearted, recovery-inspired shirts and mugs. It's a fun way to share the message and support the channel! 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Bob L. from Glendale, CA speaking at the Old Town group in San Diego, CA - March 5th 1989 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Bob’s story is a powerful reminder of how dark alcoholism can get and how unimaginably bright life can become when honesty, humility, and willingness take over. He walks listeners through his descent from barroom bravado and endless blackout drunks to the rock-bottom moment in an abandoned car where fear of living became worse than fear of dying, and one desperate prayer opened the door to a new life. His greatest accomplishments aren’t flashy—they’re profound: rebuilding a shattered family, watching his daughter find sobriety, earning back the trust of his children, learning to laugh again, and becoming the kind of old-timer whose truth, structure, and compassion help newcomers survive. His message hits at the heart of AA’s purpose: newcomers are the lifeblood, old-timers are the heart, and the miracle happens when both sides meet with honesty, laughter, and a willingness to change. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

🧡New Merch!☀️We finally got around to releasing our collection of light-hearted, recovery-inspired shirts and mugs. It's a fun way to share the message and support the channel! 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Tom I. from Southern Pines, NC - speaking at the 22nd Annual Men's Fall Retreat in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | September 17th-19th 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Tom reflects on the strange transition from being the youngest AA member everywhere he went to now being “the oldest rat in the barn,” a role that carries both responsibility and humility. He emphasizes how deeply the Traditions have shaped his life—often more than the Steps—because they guide unity, relationships, and how we relate to the world. Through honest stories of anger, restraint, leadership, conflict, money, service, anonymity, and personal conscience, he shows how the Traditions protect groups and individuals from ego, gossip, power struggles, and misplaced motives. His biggest accomplishment is modeling what real spiritual maturity looks like: acting for the common welfare rather than himself, carrying the message across prisons, planes, states, and even to strangers in need, and demonstrating that AA’s strength lies not in rules but in humility, service, and the quiet grace of doing the next right thing. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

🧡New Merch!☀️We finally got around to releasing our collection of light-hearted, recovery-inspired shirts and mugs. It's a fun way to share the message and support the channel! 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Paul M. from Oceanside, NY speaking at the 60th Gopher State Roundup in Bloomington, MN - May 25th 2013 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Paul shares a heartfelt, hilarious, and deeply spiritual talk that traced his journey from chaotic drinking in Northern Ireland and Rockaway Beach to a life filled with purpose, freedom, and service through Alcoholics Anonymous. With humor that disarms and honesty that cuts straight to the heart, he described the pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization of alcoholism—the seizures, blackouts, self-destruction, and the painful truth that he could not stop drinking on his own—contrasted with the miracle he found in AA, where “we drink alone, but we stay sober together.” He honored the power of one alcoholic helping another, the lineage stretching back to Bill W. and Dr. Bob, and the gift of unity, service, and recovery that transformed him from a man living under the shadow of a whisky bottle into a sober father, husband, and servant of others. Paul reminded newcomers that AA is hope in human form, that the Steps are not suggestions but lifelines, and that the real miracle is getting your life, your purpose, and your spirit back—one day at a time. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

🧡New Merch!☀️We finally got around to releasing our collection of light-hearted, recovery-inspired shirts and mugs. It's a fun way to share the message and support the channel! 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Rick W. from Oxnard, CA speaking at the Youngs Peoples group San Diego, CA - June 6th 2006 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Rick W., sober since 1977, delivers a no-nonsense, hilarious, and action-oriented take on the 12 Steps, recounting his journey from entering a mental institution to get certified "paranoid schizophrenic" to becoming a passionate recovery advocate. He shares raw stories of his drinking, including filling his car with vomit and Boone's Farm wine, to illustrate that alcoholism is an obsession of the mind that nothing can overcome but immediate action. Rick rejects slow step studies, challenging newcomers to "Do It This Weekend," asserting that the Steps don't need to be perfect, they just need to be done to the best of one's ability. This talk emphasizes the urgency of spiritual work and the fundamental principle that "It doesn't take much of a man or a woman to make it in Alcoholics Anonymous, but it does take them all." Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

🧡New Merch!☀️We finally got around to releasing our collection of light-hearted, recovery-inspired shirts and mugs. It's a fun way to share the message and support the channel! 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Julie H. from Dallas, TX speaking at the 3rd Anniversary of Primary Purpose Group in Marietta, Ohio - March 10th 2012 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Julie shares how she spent 13 painful years “in the rooms but not in the book” before finally surrendering to the simple, precise directions in the Big Book that gave her permanent sobriety since 2003. From her West Virginia moonshine roots to drinking six tallboys at 15, to years of relapsing, misery, and baffling failure despite “trying,” Julie revealed that her real bottom wasn’t losing everything—it was realizing she couldn’t stop drinking no matter how good her life looked. Her talk exploded with passion as she exposed how meetings, coffee, opinions, and “decorating for the party” never solved her problem—because no one ever taught her about the allergy, the obsession, the real problem, or the actual directions in AA’s textbook. With humor and toughness, she described how sponsorship, inventory, amends, and especially working with other women gave her the spiritual experience she chased for years. Her message burned with urgency: meetings don’t get us sober—steps, action, and carrying the message do, and her fierce love for the newcomer, her family’s healing, and her gratitude for becoming “a small part of a great whole” showed how the Big Book transformed a desperate backyard drinker into a respected, joyful woman living shoulder-to-shoulder on AA’s firing line. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

🧡New Merch!☀️We finally got around to releasing our collection of light-hearted, recovery-inspired shirts and mugs. It's a fun way to share the message and support the channel! 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Hugh N. from Nashville, Tennessee speaking at Tennessee Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous in Memphis, TN - 2003 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Hugh describes growing up with a “hole in the soul,” living in fear and fantasy, losing control by age 16, and nearly dying during a blackout—yet that moment of utter defeat became the spark that opened him to AA. His story showed the life-changing power of unity and service, but also the deep transformation that only comes from actually working the Steps, not just talking about them. Through humility, sponsorship, daily discipline, and learning to stay on “his side of the God-line,” Hugh replaced self-will with a spiritual life that gave him peace, purpose, and love. Today he’s a sober husband, father, and steady member of AA—living proof that God’s timing is better than anything he ever planned, and that sobriety can turn a lost teenager into a grateful man with a family, a home, and a heart full of purpose. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Tom I. from Southern Pines, NC speaking on the topic of "Working with others" at Melon City Roundup in Muscatine, IL - September 28th 2001 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Tom delivers a wise, funny, and deeply spiritual talk on working with others, grounding everything in his belief that alcoholism is a killer illness and that the only real protection we have is service—what he calls AA’s “90/10 program,” where recovery is 10% gimme and 90% give (to the fellowship of AA). With stories ranging from suicidal newcomers to tuxedo-clad doctors, burned mattresses, police calls, and miracles born from simple willingness, Tom showed that helping others isn’t about expertise—it’s about love, action, and walking “with” people, not on them. He tied this to AA’s early history, reminding listeners that the fellowship was built by drunks who carried the message house to house, long before treatment centers or court mandates. He warned that attitudes, complacency, and detachment can quietly erode AA’s spirit and that unity, responsibility, and engagement with families and the community matter as much as step work. Above all, Tom emphasized that we need the newcomer as much as they need us, and that giving ourselves away—living that 90/10—creates the new and wonderful world AA promises. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Bart R. from Sedona, AZ speaking at the Big Book Serenity Breakfast in Minnetonka, MN - May 17th 2015 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com From drinking in fifth grade and cycling through juvenile prisons to wrecked marriages, dry misery, and the belief he’d never be able to live sober, Bart discovered AA only when he’d run out of options—and finally met a sponsor who patiently walked him through the Big Book line by line. Through rigorous honesty, powerful amends, and a daily practice of surrender, Bart rebuilt not only his life but the lives around him, becoming a devoted son, husband, father, and messenger of hope. His talk radiated grit, humor, and deep spiritual insight, proving that real recovery isn’t just abstinence but a complete transformation of heart—one that turns broken men into instruments of God’s love, carrying freedom to the next suffering alcoholic. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Keith L. from Wilmington, NC speaking at 25th Brazos Riverside Conference - October 19th 2002 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com With the rhythm of a storyteller and the humility of a man transformed, Keith traced his life from a small-town Irish Catholic boy who couldn’t feel love, through war, brilliance, and despair, to the miracle moment when God and AA pulled him from suicide into service. His story held laughter at every turn—from “Brother Skunk” to mutant rosary beads—yet beneath the humor was the ache of a man who longed for connection and finally found it through surrender. Through the Steps, his sponsor, and the fellowship, Keith rebuilt his life, made peace with his father, and became a son who could both love and be loved. His reflections on grace, family, and the sacred gift of giving love captured the spirit of the weekend’s theme: that the miracle of AA is not that we stop drinking, but that we finally learn how to receive and share love. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Mike C. from Escondido, CA speaking at the "Easy Does It Group" in Lemon Grove, CA - April 15th 2005 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com After years of chasing differences, hiding emotions, and trying to fix life on his own terms, he hit a bottom in sobriety—sitting under a meeting-room clock, weeping uncontrollably, convinced sobriety wasn’t working. That day, a man’s simple message of hope—“You can get better”—sparked a transformation that began with a phone call and a willingness to take direction. Through years of rigorous honesty, step work, and surrender, Mike rebuilt his life, restored his family, and found the deeper freedom beyond mere relief. With humor and conviction, he reminded listeners that the real gift of AA isn’t just not drinking—it’s permanent sobriety and a “contented life,” earned through humility, amends, and faith in a loving God. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Kelvin D. from West Fargo, ND speaking at the 60th Gopher State Roundup in Bloomington, MN - May 25th 2013 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Kelvin shares how a childhood filled with fear and abuse left him restless, disconnected, and searching for worth in alcohol, violence, and ego. From cutting himself to “let the demons out” to drinking Pine-Sol in desperation, Kelvin’s story showed the deadly grip of alcoholism and the miracle of grace that saved him. Through the Steps, sponsorship, and a second surrender, he learned that his real problem wasn’t alcohol—it was playing God. His talk, full of laughter, humility, and truth, revealed how AA repaired even the oldest wounds, teaching him to live as one of God’s kids—guided by faith, service, and love instead of fear and pride. “I get to remain here as one of God’s kids,” he said, capturing the essence of his powerful message: that through surrender, the broken become whole.   Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Kent L. from Wetumpka, AL speaking at the Mountain Top Roundup at Guntersville State Park in Guntersville, Alabama - May 16th 2008 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Kent’s story is a powerful testament to humility, growth, and redemption through Alcoholics Anonymous. From a disciplined Army life lost to alcoholism to rebuilding his integrity through service, honesty, and faith, Kent found purpose beyond his past failures. His journey—from being discharged, divorced, and directionless to earning a master’s degree, regaining his family’s trust, and living in gratitude—shows how surrendering to the program’s principles can turn despair into grace. Today, Kent stands as a man transformed by truth, service, and spiritual discipline, proof that recovery restores not just sobriety, but the soul itself. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Paul F. from Phoenix, AZ speaking at the North Scottsdale speaker meeting in Scottsdale, AZ - July 9th 2005 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Paul shares his transformation from a violent, hopeless addict facing 25 years in prison to a grateful man of faith and service through Alcoholics Anonymous. Sent to prison at 18 and lost in confusion for over a decade, Paul came to AA convinced it wouldn’t work for him—until a sponsor patiently guided him through the Big Book as a “cookbook,” showing him that recovery wasn’t about understanding but experiencing the Steps. Through surrender, fearless honesty, and action, he found freedom from obsession, made amends to those he’d harmed—including walking into a Taco Bell he once robbed—and discovered a loving God far removed from the punishing one of his youth. His talk blended hard-earned wisdom and humor, teaching that love is a discipline, sobriety is a responsibility, and service is the heartbeat of AA. With humility and gratitude, Paul stood as living proof that even the most broken life can be rebuilt into one of peace, purpose, and joy through God’s grace and the Twelve Steps. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Larry T. from Los Angeles, CA speaking about steps 8 and 9 at the Stateline Retreat in Primm, NV - December 9th - 12th 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Larry shares his heartfelt account of redemption through Alcoholics Anonymous, tracing his transformation from a selfish, broken man into one living by grace, humility, and responsibility. With humor and brutal honesty, he painted his early years of pain—using and betraying those who loved him, destroying relationships, and drowning in guilt and shame—before being rescued by a one-eyed Scotsman who took him to his first AA meeting from a jail cell. After years of relapse, Larry finally surrendered in 1982, walking ten miles to an Alano Club to ask for help and beginning the long road of amends. Through the 12 Steps, he restored peace with his parents, reconciled with his sisters, made heartfelt amends to those he’d harmed, and rebuilt a loving relationship with his daughter. His message was simple but profound: that true recovery is not about getting anything, but giving everything; that the real miracle of AA is living responsibly, helping others, and carrying the light of God and Alcoholics Anonymous into every corner of life. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Scott B. from Jamestown, ND speaking at the Northern Plains Group in Fargo, ND - 2005 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Scott shares how a lost young man who “never was” became a devoted husband, father, and servant through the grace of God and Alcoholics Anonymous. Growing up without a father and feeling less than, Scott found in alcohol a brief illusion of belonging, but it quickly led him to blackouts, jail, and despair. Despite multiple failed attempts at recovery, one call from a fellow AA member changed everything, pulling him back into a fellowship that offered hope and purpose. Through sponsorship, the Steps, and the simple act of helping others, Scott rebuilt his life—earning a degree, building a business, and raising five children in faith and love. His talk radiated humility, humor, and gratitude, reminding everyone that true sobriety isn’t about perfection or status—it’s about service, honesty, and staying spiritually connected, one day at a time, so that the miracle of recovery continues to grow in others. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Tom I. from Southern Pines, NC speaking on the topic of "Working with others" in Budd Lake, NJ - January 4th 2003 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Tom shares his journey from tragedy, guilt, and imprisonment to grace, freedom, and service. After years of chaos, blackouts, and a fatal drunk-driving accident that led to his incarceration at age 24, Tom found AA inside the walls of Jackson State Prison in 1957 and experienced a spiritual awakening that transformed his life. Through the Big Book, the 12 Steps, and a prison AA group that became his home, he learned to live with humility, honesty, and purpose. Upon release, he rebuilt his life completely — regaining trust, rebuilding AA groups, and serving in corrections for 39 years, ultimately becoming a warden who carried the message back into prisons. With wit and deep gratitude, Tom reminded listeners that freedom isn’t about circumstances but spiritual condition, and that a life once marked by despair can become one of faith, usefulness, and joy — living proof that his higher power's grace can reach even the darkest cell. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Peter M. from Boca Raton, FL speaking at the Fontbonne Group in Hamilton, ON - September 3rd 2011 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Peter shares his spiritual journey of transformation, tracing his path from a tormented childhood and violent alcoholism to a life of stillness, service, and grace through Alcoholics Anonymous. After losing his mother to addiction, battling relentless self-hatred, and surviving seven treatment centers, Peter reached total surrender in a filthy hallway on June 23, 1988, when he begged God simply not to let him die. That prayer, answered through his father’s love and AA’s hand, became the beginning of a new life. Guided by the Big Book, the Steps, and his sponsors, Peter was lifted from fear and obsession into a life of spiritual consciousness—where thought yields to presence, and self-will to God’s will. Today, he lives to carry the message across the world, teaching that recovery is not about “just not drinking,” but about awakening to divine stillness, walking in humility, and serving others as living proof of God’s mercy. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Bill C. from Torrance, CA speaking about steps 6 and 7 at the Stateline Retreat in Primm, NV - December 9th - 12th 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Bill reflects on growing up in an AA household, falling deep into addiction, and ultimately discovering humility, grace, and emotional maturity through the 12 Steps. Raised by devoted AA and Al-Anon parents, he rebelled into years of chaos, institutions, and isolation before his mother’s compassion brought him to recovery. His talk wove sharp humor with deep wisdom, exploring Steps Six and Seven as a lifelong process of growing up — learning self-awareness over self-obsession, intimacy over isolation, and service over ego. Through sponsorship, pain, and surrender, he discovered that true recovery isn’t just about abstinence but emotional connection, faith, and love in action. Now decades sober, Bill lives the full circle of healing—caring for his dying parents, sponsoring others, and maintaining a home filled with recovery and laughter—showing that giving love away isn’t how we keep it, but how we finally receive it. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Paul G. from Brookfield, OH speaking at the Spring Fling Conference in Eerie, PA - April 17th 2010 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Paul shares his deeply spiritual account of a life redeemed through Alcoholics Anonymous, tracing his path from a reckless San Francisco youth and hard-drinking biker to a grateful man of faith, service, and humility. Arrests, loss, and utter loneliness finally drove him into treatment, where a counselor’s challenge and an AA speaker’s message cracked his denial and gave him the first glimpse of hope. Though he nearly relapsed his first night out, one meeting and one handshake pulled him into the fellowship that saved his life. Guided by sponsors who taught that gratitude is action and that service is God’s work, he built a life of purpose—visiting newcomers, caring for aging parents, and helping countless others find recovery. Now more than three decades sober, Paul radiates humor, grace, and humility, proving that real freedom isn’t found in the bottle but in faith, love, and the daily act of showing up for God and others.  Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Karen G. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at Jackson's Mill 31st Fall Roundup in Jackson's Mill, WV - October 4th 2008 Visit our website - Sober-Sunrise.com Karen delivers a powerful, hilarious, and deeply moving account of redemption through Alcoholics Anonymous, sharing how she rose from the depths of alcoholic and professional ruin to a life of faith, service, and grace. Once a nurse who lost everything—her children, career, and dignity—Karen found herself on Skid Row in Lincoln, Nebraska, drinking Mad Dog and dying from liver disease before AA and divine intervention saved her life. Guided by her sponsor, Clancy, she rebuilt from nothing, regaining her nursing license, joining the Pacific Group, and learning true humility through daily surrender and action. Her storytelling blended raw honesty and humor—from falling into a grave to accidentally super-gluing her ex-husband—reminding all that laughter and grace coexist in recovery. Today, she stands as living proof that no fall is too far for God’s mercy and AA’s miracle, having turned a life of despair into one filled with love, healing, and unwavering gratitude for “God’s magnificent AA.” Music: Deep by KaizanBlu