Rick Dancer Media Services LLC

Rick, be Specific….What Changes? (Click for video)

Rick Dancer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:03:36 +0000

You guys are very nosey and I like that about you. I put out a video recently talking about the changes in my life since the campaign for Secretary of State. But it wasn’t good enough for some so……here’s more specifics. This is a picture from 2007, prior to the campaign.

Testing the Pump on a Fire Truck; I’m in Heaven. (click here for video)

Rick Dancer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:38:57 +0000

Each time I take a video camera out to shoot a story I learn something. Hughes Fire Equipment Company in Springfield hired me to do some video work for it’s website. I never knew fire trucks had to be tested each year to insure the pump system in the truck is working properly. It makes perfect sense but it had never occurred to me. Imagine my excitement when I found out the first video I would shoot for them was their Pump Test.

Watch this video, it’s really fun stuff.

Client: Hughes FIre Equipment Incorporated

Video is not available at this time. The Host Vimeo is not working right now. The company is working on it. I’ll post it as soon as they get their act together. Go to Youtube under gogorickdancer to find it.

Changing; November 4th (click for video)

Rick Dancer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:14:34 +0000

I used to wear a suit to work everyday. I used to slip a tie around my neck, put on a white shirt, slip a suit jacket over that and turn into Rick Dancer the Newsman. November 4th changed all of that. I didn’t know how trapped I was, not just by the job but by what I thought I was supposed to be. Sometimes to lose is actually to win.

It’s Moving Day; all unnecessary Vessels will be discarded, eventually.

Rick Dancer — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:21:15 +0000

I’m standing in a chamber, a room I vaguely remember being inside before. As I look around the place is filled with clay vessels. Some are in great condition others cracked, smashed or nearly demolished. Some of the vessels are half filled with broken promises, dashed dreams or ideas I put there thinking they would fill the emptiness. Some of these vessels look horrible,filled with smelly goo and junk and are covered with tarps so that no one can see what’s inside. The nicer looking vessels are filled with a substance that looks good to the naked eye but on closer examination is equally dangerous. Inside these containers are tolerable, socially acceptable idea’s designed to make me feel better and look so good to the outside observer. As I’m looking around I hear a knock at the door. I ask; “who is it?” The voice on the other side is familiar but as I open the door to let Him in He doesn’t look like the guy on the flannel board I played with in Sunday school as a kid. He doesn’t look like the picture of the guy praying I got when I was baptized or of the guy with the lamb on His shoulder that every church had hanging in some classroom. This guy wasn’t as attractive as people would like Him to be but there was something in His eyes that reached deep into my chamber stirring discomfort and peace at the same time. He had with Him a crew of helpers and a dumpster outside the door. He said; “Rick, we’re ready to help you move some of this junk out of your chamber.” He went on to say; “there are many vessels in this place that were never intended to be here and we’d like to assist you in a clean-up.” I said; “But I didn’t put all of these vessels in here. I didn’t even know that some of them existed.” He smiled and said; “ I know, some of them were slipped in when you, by choice, accepted delivery of containers you thought were okay to bring in. Others are simply mistakes and then there are those you are hanging on to, that you don’t need anymore, but you think they are part of your character. “ The goo-filled containers were easy to move. Okay, not easy but obvious. It was the vessels I thought I still needed that were the toughest to get rid of. The process of cleaning up a toxic spill is never easy but it is doable. There is so much of who I think I am buried under broken clay and grime. The look in the man’s eyes tells me this stuff has to go to make room for the new tenant. The new tenant has rightful ownership of this chamber; after all I freely gave it to Him. As He looks at me He say’s “Rick, you don’t have to get rid of the cracked vessels, those are the one’s that show your imperfections, we can still use those. Just throw away all those fake looking containers filled with reminders of the past.” It’s moving day. “Wait, are you sure I can’t hold on to that one just a little longer?”

God Doesn’t Make Junk

Rick Dancer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:07:34 +0000

There are moments in life where everything around you slows down and you hear God whisper in your ear. A moment like that came the other day when I was meeting with a man named Michael. Michael is 38, would love to get married and have children someday and dreams of being successful. Michael’s biggest obstacle is not that he has a cognitive disability it’s that he can’t see the fact that in the eyes of his Heavenly Father Michael has reached the panicle of success. I met Michael to talk about an upcoming speaking engagement we are doing together. Michael is a client of an organization I work with called Full Access. Full Access helps Michael do some of the things he needs assistance with such as grocery shopping, house cleaning and finding ways to get out and be with people. Michael says without Full Access he would tend to stay home and not talk with people, even though he loves people, because when you have a cognitive disability, he say’s it easier to stay home. Michael is quite intelligent and very, very deep. I asked him to go back and tell about his beginning and was surprised by the words that came out, recalling those early years. Michael was born in South Seoul Korea. At the age of four his biological parents left him in a public place. He doesn’t remember where but thinks it was in a crowded area where they went one way and he got lost, on purpose, in the shuffle. It’s probably a good thing the mind can choose numbness over painful memories. Michael was adopted by a family in the United States and ended up in Elmira, Oregon at age 13. A one-hour meeting quickly turned into a three-hour conversation. Michael is one of those people who aren’t afraid to go after the deep topics. I like that in people. Too many folks shy away from tough topics for fear we might actually get to know one another. Michael started asking questions, questions like “why his biological parents, as he put it, “threw him away.” Here’s the thing that Michael said that really threw me. I’ve thought this before about myself but never heard anyone really articulate such an idea. He said God doesn’t make junk so why am I disabled, why did he make me like this. He asked why didn’t he stop this from happening. Just for the record I don’t consider anyone with a disability junk. This was a statement Michael made to make a point and I don’t want anyone taking it out of context. At this point I’m speechless. Haven’t you ever felt like that before or am I the only one? Haven’t you risen out of bed some nights and wondered, “Why do I always have to deal with this disability, this issue, this thorn? Why can’t I move past this thing that seems to trap or even define me? Michael then said this amazing thought. He said he knows that God has a plan for his life and he knows God will make him successful. It was my turn to have a deep thought. I said to Michael perhaps you are measuring success using the wrong measuring stick. Perhaps kindness, gentleness and a willingness to love people, as they are, is the true measure of a successful man. That’s when it happened, Michaels face lit up as he realized, I think for the first time, that he may have already arrived at his greatest desire. Michael, you are so right, God does not make junk, mistakes or errors He makes people in His Own Image. Michael perhaps you look more like God than the rest of the world. Perhaps you are closer to success than you think.

Service rather than Servant

Rick Dancer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:54:55 +0000

As I pour through my Bible and turn pages in my Oswald Chambers book I sense this nagging itch in the back of my brain. Concepts, ideas and realizations about God don’t line up like they used to. I remember the days of three part sermons, systems and strategies designed to make me a better believer. Now, much of that seems so lifeless, self-centered and off track. I read this morning about being Christ’s Bond Servant and had to wonder whether Christianity today, or at least the brand I grew up with, was based more on what you do for God than what God chooses to do with you. To serve still gives us some sense of control. To serve allows us to pick and choose who, what and where we’ll use our gifts. To be a Bond Servant means you are free and that you freely choose to serve the master. Yep, that means you have given yourself to God to be a servant, not of service. For some reason when human beings become “of service” to others, many of us take it on. It often times becomes more about what we get out of it than simply being a servant of the king. Some of you will be tempted to knit-pick my words with theology and scripture bashing, please don’t. I’m simply giving my thoughts that turned up this morning after reading and talking with my Father. Service or Servant; perhaps they really aren’t the same thing.

Recycling Matters (click here for short video)

Rick Dancer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:18:08 +0000

There’s a fundraiser for Bring Recycling and I thought it might be something some of you would be interested in. Julie Daniel manages Bring and I like to help her in anyway I can. I put together a video just to inspire you a little. Check out the FB Site below for more information. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162563691714&ref=mf

Meet Creswell Business Owners

Rick Dancer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:54:01 +0000

To help people in Creswell get to know each other and hold that closeness the community has right now, we’re putting interviews with community members and business owners on the city’s website. Creswell is expected to grow from 4700 people to over 12,000 in the next 20 years and the city wants to do that without losing it’s small town feel. We hope a vibrant, user friendly website can be part of that process

Jim Pliska is no stranger to Creswell, Oregon. This Portland area businessman purchased the Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell a few years ago. His latest development is the new Comfort Inn and Suites Hotel right off I-5.
But listen to this interview with Jim Pliska and you will learn more about the man and his plans for development in this rural Oregon town that is ready to grow.

Clients: Jim Pliska/Creswell Comfort Inn and Suites

City of Creswell.

Creswell, Oregon is ready to grow. (Click here for video)

Rick Dancer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:09:16 +0000

I’ve never heard of a city paying cash for things. I’m sure it happens. Actually I’m not sure it happens all that often unless the city you are talking about is Creswell, Oregon. Creswell paid cash for a new city hall building and a public works facility. Creswell has a new sewer and water system and it’s streets are under repair. A Portland Businessman noticed all the changes and upgrades and just built a brand new Comfort Inn and Suites right off the Interstate.

Creswell is expecting a lot growth over the next 20 years but unlike many place in Oregon, Creswell will be ready.

Clients: Jim Pliska: Creswell Comfort Inn and Suites

City of Creswell

I Failed the test but Passed the Make Up Exam.

Rick Dancer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:56:33 +0000

There I was, faced with a decision of whether to help or not help and I chose “not”. I was eating lunch in Albany and needed to get to Salem by 1:15. I looked at my watch as I headed out the door and it read 1:00. I’m probably 20 miles from my next meeting. As I get to my car a guy sitting in his beat-up red Toyota Pickup gets out and says, “Hey can you help me by giving my car a jump?” At that moment my mind starts to whirl. I know I should, I know if I were him I’d want someone parked right next to me, our car batteries only inches from each other, to simply take the time to help me out. I looked at the guy and said, in a really nice voice, I’m sorry I can’t I have a meeting to get to in Salem.” I jumped in my car and took off. I drove for about a mile. The whole time I’m thinking that was a really bad thing to do. I kept digging around in my excuse file that’s actually quite well developed in my brain for reasons to back up my decision. There were plenty to choose from. I had to be at this meeting on time. I couldn’t be late. Hey, I was meeting a very important person about a very important project and could not be late. As I started to pass Home Depot (no significance just a land mark) I slammed on the break, turned my car around, and went back to the guy in the red truck. He was still sitting there as If he knew I’d be back. I said to him I just couldn’t do it. I need to help you. He smiled, helped me find the latch to open my hood (not something I do all that often) and within five minutes I was on my way. I was about 10 minutes late to my meeting. I explained to the guy I was meeting with what happened to which he replied, “you did the right thing.” I wish I did the right thing more often. I wish I could hear God more clearly when those really difficult moments arise and those voices lie to me and say it’s okay when I know it’s not. I failed the test but passed the make up exam, this time.