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.
A Message To White America “Let me put it this way, there were a number of folks who got up on the floor and gave the same speech, you know that night…while there was a crime scene investigation and a dead woman’s blood drying just a few feet outside the door….they were giving the same […]
Everybody is haunted by the images of this week.The Nazi shirts…the Confederate flag…the man with zip ties in military gear…the wild-eyed looks of these insurrectionists. But I’ve been deeply stirred by two images.One, of this Capitol police officer being crushed.The other, of Representative Andy Kim cleaning up the trash. I know that this is a […]
If you are a Trump supporter who condemns yesterday’s insurrection against the United States, if you believe yourself to be a Christian or a decent person, today is a day to forever take down your Trump flags and put away your MAGA hats. Whatever you believe these symbols mean, or *want* them to mean, they […]
As We Go OnWords and Music: Eric Folkerth the turning of the yearthe turning of a pagelisten and you’ll hearall this restlessness and ragesadness in our eyeshearts still in griefwe say our goodbyeto the Orange-headed thief… as we go on…we go on…we go on…we go on… so nurse up your achesbut listen to that rageand […]
Conversation:We talk about “Love” and how our pandemic Christmas will be different. Eric unpacks the classic song “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” as the perfect song of this season.Featured Songs:“Love is There,” by Grace Pettis.”O Little Town of Bethlehem,” by Phillips Brooks & Lewis Redner.”Silent Night,” by Joseph Mohr & Franz Gruber.”Have Yourself A […]
We’ve had a small, juvenile hawk hanging around the house the past few weeks. It might explain the sudden disappearance of rats on our late-night security cameras. (That might also be due to the neighborhood cat that apparently likes to sleep on our front porch rocking chairs…) I snapped this picture of him/her this morning. […]
Hi Friends,It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a music update. In this time of pandemic, there’s not a lot of live music happening out there. A few reminders of things I’m doing in the online world, to help keep us connected in this unusual time. New Website! First, my music website has a […]
Far too many times, I hear White people say White Privilege is a myth or a creation of the Left. But there are ways to VISUALIZE it…to illustrate it…show show its pernicious effects beyond shadow of dout. Exhibit A: The HOLC Maps. This is a long blog. I can’t apologize for that, because you need […]
Two thousand Federal troops. I keep coming back to that number. That’s the number of Union soldiers that accompanied General Gordon Granger into Galveston on the day Juneteenth was proclaimed in 1865. We White people barely understand Juneteenth to begin with, and what we do understand is often whitewashed. Yes, General Granger read that proclamation […]
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