Browsing articles tagged with " Rick Dancer"

Don’t Take this the Wrong Way, Please.

Feb 3, 2012 // by Rick Dancer // Blog // 2 Comments

I’m having this moment where I just watched our next RDTV Show (airs Sunday 4:30 KEVU) and realized that something inside me is dead and something amazing is replacing it.

It was weird watching myself do, what I do, but not like I used to do it. The need to do it is gone and now it’s just damn fun.

Our ego gets in the way of true communication. We think and rethink our next move and that often times keeps us from moving at all.

We stay safe, we ask few questions and we try not to rock the boat. I’m a boat rocker but sometimes I tread lightly because I’ve seen what can happen when you dive in.

A friend asked me the other day “Rick, what do you really believe?”

That question sent me hurling deep into my soul for an answer. I don’t have it yet but it’s developing.

I believe God is up to something in the recesses of my spirit and in every aspect of His church. He’s turning switches off and on and smiling not because He’s toying with us but because He see’s the finished product and how good it can be.

He’s encouraging me to ask the questions. Some think asking equates to anger or injury and they are wrong.

Oh, I think perhaps both emotions can be found in the process but why are we so afraid of process? Why are we so afraid of anger? I guess part of it is we don’t like it when Jesus turned over tables in the church and said: “stop it.”

Yeh, Jesus was ticked because His church became a “Christian Macy’s.”

My questions don’t scare God at all. He’s really big and when His son walked this earth He was always asking questions of those who held the religious purse strings.

The questions I ask today are no different but to some, the self-proclaimed protectors of the faith, the sting is too great.

The closer I get to Him, the more I ask, the more I challenge, the more free I feel.

When I watched the show I see a revised Rick Dancer.

He’s lost a lot over the last five years and I’m starting to see a newfound freedom erupting on camera.

In the back of my soul I hear God saying: “Rick, keep going I think you’re onto something.”

She’s the Morning Glory Muffin of my Dreams

Feb 2, 2012 // by Rick Dancer // Blog // No Comments

One time, a long time ago, I had nothing to eat in my car. No nuts, no food bar, not even a banana. I had just worked out and needed something to eat. I walked into Full City Coffee shop and there she was the muffin of my dreams. She was dark and chewy and full of nuts and spices and carrots and pineapple and other stuff that tastes good and feels good in my hungry body. That was the day I fell in love with “The Morning Glory Muffin.”

She is not a one man muffin though. No, I can’t claim her for myself in fact she’s one of Palace Bakeries most popular little muffins. I recently got to go behind the kitchen, meet her maker and watch her being born. I’m not a muffin stalker but I know a good muffin when I taste one and “The Morning Glory” is muffin number one for me.

You should try her but stay distance because in the end, I will win.

Prosperity Doctrine: Really?

Feb 1, 2012 // by Rick Dancer // Blog // 6 Comments

We don’t say this, as bluntly as I’m about to but I think a lot of Christians really do believe if you “Believe in Christ you will prosper.”
I guess it all depends on your definition of Prosperity but if you mean the American Church Definition this is a huge lie.
The more I learn and try to live like Jesus the more difficult my life becomes, that’s a fact. You can sugar coat it, you can put it in a suit and you can package it up all nice and neatly but the bottom line is, Following Christ is hard and often brings great pain.
We think if we do this or that that somehow God owes us or will pay us back with blessings.
Entitlement has slipped its way into the America Church and while we would never admit to this we think God owes us if we do good things for Him.
We’ve created a church system that rewards large churches and creates this growth model that has little to do with serving people or leading folks to Jesus. I know that bothers some of you and guess what it bothers the heck out of me.
The bigger the church the more need for a bigger building. Pastors of bigger churches often times get bigger salaries so why wouldn’t he or she want to grow? This is the American Way, this is expected, and this is how we live.
Are you starting to see the fuzzy line we’ve created between corporate America and the church?
We build 20 million dollar buildings (yes that happened in Eugene, Oregon) so we can lure and fit all those people into our church.
Don’t you think there are enough vacant buildings in the area that would house all those people that could be purchased for much less than 20-million dollars?
God does not tell us to build bigger buildings. He does not tell us we need million dollar sound systems or comfortable pews to sit in. What He tells us is to serve the poor, help the widow and so on and so forth.
Some organizations say you can feed a child in a 3rd world nation for a year on 36 dollars. Others say for 15 dollars a year that same child could have medical coverage and yet thousands and thousands go without.
Even in our community education suffers because there’s not enough money in the coffers to teach children and yet we can spend that kind of money on a place to worship God. I don’t think God cares where we worship Him but I do think He cares about all those kids.
You see where I’m going with this don’t you? Do you think God sits and smiles as he watches the erection of buildings and massive monitors go up around town or does it break His heart to see that “The Church” is spending more on it’s marketing plan and missing the point?
I know this makes some of you very uncomfortable. We have been taught not to questions such things and when we do the punishment is excommunication from the club.
But how long will we continue to live this lie? How much longer can you do it? The economy is in the toilet and people are struggling. If the church really wants to serve people the model must be broken.
There is no time to continue playing church it’s time to be the church. I know a couple that is trying to raise $4,000 dollars to go back to Zambia for a year to build a school for orphaned boys.
They need help and it shouldn’t be that difficult. Nothing fancy, nothing special just a school for orphans. theloveysproject.com
They are holding a fundraiser at the Boulevard Grille in Eugene Tuesday Night from 6:30 to 8:30.
I think it’s time we realign our priorities not with current Christian culture but with the heart of God.
Go back and read the book and remind yourself what He told us to do.
Sorry to be such a pain in the butt but this really is important.

Do I Take Jesus Seriously?

Jan 31, 2012 // by Rick Dancer // Blog // 2 Comments

I don’t think I really take Jesus seriously and wonder what you think of this thought process.

He said to deny myself and seek first the Kingdom of God do I do that?

He told me to take care of the poor so when I see someone without money do I help or simply turn the other cheek?

There are many things Jesus said to do that today we write off calling them culturally irrelevant but I wonder?

He said I should not serve but one master and yet my job, my house payment and my lifestyle often times take top priority.

I believe a change is coming and that excites and frightens me at the same time. Perhaps it’s time to take Jesus seriously. Perhaps the “Flannel Board Jesus” has to die and reality needs to set in.

Yes Jesus is about love but love without action is just another Hallmark Card.

God, give me the ability to see beyond words, expectations, cultural norms and my own life so that I’m open to the changes that are being born in me today.