Eric Folkerth is a minister, musician, author and blogger.
He is Senior Pastor of Kessler Park UMC United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Previously, he was pastor at Northaven UMC in Dallas for seventeen years.
Eric loves to write on topics of spirituality, social justice, music/art and politics. The entries on this blog reflect that diversity of interests.
His passion for social justice goes beyond mere words. Eric was arrested at the White House, defending immigrants and “The Dreamers;” and he’s officiated at same sex weddings.
Eric was the 2017 recipient of the prestigeous Kuchling Humanitarian Award from Dallas’ Black Tie Dinner. (Human Rights Campaign)
Eric has led or co-led hundreds of persons on mission trips to build houses and bring medical care around the globe, to places such as Mexico, Haiti, Russia, Guatemala, and Nepal. He is proud of have shephereded Highland Park UMC's construction of ten Habitat for Humanity homes, (and one Community Center) and helped forge an alliance with Habitat that led to the construction of 100 homes in Dallas, housing thousands of people.
His wife, Justice Dennise Garcia, has 20 years experience as a state district judge and appelate justice in North Texas.
First elected in 2004, she was the first Latina ever elected to a Dallas County state district bench, and she she left that position whe was the longest currently serving district judge.
In 2020 Dennise Garcia was a elected as a Justice of the 5th District Court of Appeals for Texas. She is currently running to be Chief of the 5th District Court of Appeals in the 2024 cycle.
They have the world’s best daughter, Maria, who is a practicing professional counselor in Dallas.
Find links to Eric’s music-related websites, at the top of this site’s navigation menu.
My good friend, Billy Jonas, is here in Dallas this week. He’s staying with us while he does a couple of shows in Plano schools early this week. But, He’ll be playing a house concert Wednesday night at my friend’s Paul and Terrie’s house. If you never seen Billy, you won’t want to miss this […]
I’ll be playing at the Nodding Dog Friday night. It’s a great coffeehouse, in the Bishop Arts section of Oak Cliff. From what we can tell, this may be the last dry night for a week, so come out to have coffee, eat great snacks, and hear great music. The details: Eric Folkerth at Nodding […]
Hey everyone: Lot’s happening in our city right now, with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I know there are a lot of suggestions for what folks can do to be helpful, but I thought you might be interested to read what our church is doing. Follow this link, and you’ll find some specific suggestions for […]
Camp Casey is now winding down, and in a few days it will all be packed up for good. The last weekend was certainly a big one. I actually ended up going down twice: Friday and Saturday. On Friday, I went down with Bill McElvaney, one of the emeritus pastors of our church. He’d been […]
Thanks to Madaleine, from the Kerrchat list, for the catch of this one… Apparently, my new song, “Prairie Chapel Road,” written in honor of Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey, made it into a BBC Radio clip the other night…or, at least a clip of the song made it into the clip of the story. Listen […]
Spent yesterday out at Camp Casey. I had been asked to provide music for an interfaith prayer vigil to take place at noon-time. Here’s a great photo collage from Jeff Paterson and “Not in Our Name” of the prayer vigil. Jeff has also produced an incredible video, with my song as the soundtrack. (I heard […]
In August of 2005, I had the great good fortune to be a part of “Camp Casey,” the organic and grassroots peace movement inspired by Cindy Sheehan. During some of my trips there, I was inspired to write a song called “Prairie Chapel Road,” which has now become one of two great songs to come […]
Last week, you may remember how I lamented the passing of Gloria Dei Nights Coffeehouse. Well, today the Dallas Morning News has run a story about it, and I get quoted throughout. (Along with my good friend, Annie Benjamin). You can find it here. (subscription required…) It’s not often that the Morning News covers this […]
Music, Politics, Religion, Life (Sort of like this blog, except it’s audio from my appearance on radio) You may remember that two Friday’s ago, I was on a radio show called “A Lawyer and a Cop.” It’s hosted by –you guessed it– a lawyer and a cop. It airs every Friday morning on KNON radio […]
Got some incredibly sad news this am about Gloria Dei Nights Coffeehouse. Looks like they’re folding up shop for good. I had several really great shows there over the past few years….they always had appreciative crowds and crowds that LISTENED…which is something often lacking at coffee houses… You can hear what it was like here. […]
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