The story of Chris M: Service in Recovery

Closing out our February, “Service in Recovery” series is the story of Chris M—a man with 45 years clean whose life has been shaped by devotion to service, innovation, and spiritual principle.Born in Nigeria in 1962, Chris spent his early childhood moving between Nigeria, Uganda, and Morocco before coming to the United States at twelve years old. Struggling with intense anger and impulsivity, he began using drugs early, and by thirteen he was not only setting fires but experimenting with explosives—behavior that led to his arrest by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. By eighteen, addiction had hollowed him out, and he found himself in a mental institution, where he first heard the fledgling message of Narcotics Anonymous as it was just beginning in Baltimore. He joined immediately and threw himself into service—selling 50/50 raffles at his home group, speaking in Hospitals and Institutions, and carrying a message focused squarely on drug addiction at a time when many recovery spaces centered primarily on alcohol.Service became the backbone of his recovery. After moving to Washington, D.C., he continued serving, sponsoring others, and deepening his love for the Traditions. In the early 2000s, recognizing how difficult it was to find reliable meeting information while traveling, Chris began developing what would become the Basic Meeting List Toolbox (BMLT). At a time when meeting lists were handwritten and fragmented, he envisioned a standardized, decentralized system that could make meeting information accessible anywhere in the world. Originally called the Common Meeting Data Exchange Format (COMDEF), the project introduced a shared API and aggregation system that allowed regions to maintain their own data while displaying it in a common, accessible format. Though early collaboration with NA World Services did not continue, the idea was too powerful to fade.Today, Chris has stepped back from active involvement, and a new generation of highly capable developers has taken the BMLT far beyond its original scope—expanding, refining, and maintaining it as a global resource that quietly serves millions seeking meetings. For Chris, this is the essence of true service: building something that outlives you and continues helping addicts long after you step aside.With 45 years clean, Chris still attends meetings regularly, sponsors others, and views the Steps as a practical recipe for living life on spiritual principles. His story is proof that service is not just what we do—it is who we become when we stay clean long enough to give back.