How It Looks to a Sponsor

FIRST off let's distinguish between sponsorship and many other functions and attitudes that are often loosely called sponsorship. The first contact a new member has is the message carrier. If this is an AA member rather than the written word or an outside referral, the carrier may or may not become a sponsor. After listening, talking enough to establish his identification as an alcoholic, taking the prospect to some meetings, I believe the messenger has a responsibility to inform the "new man" (when he's sober enough to hear) that he should choose his own sponsor. That so frequently the initial contact does, in fact, become a sponsor is either a minor miracle or attests to our innate immature tendency to hero worship (dangerous to both sponsor and sponsoree).