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.
This Fall, I found a social scientist whose new book has been deeply helpful to me, as I try to unpack Hope this Advent season. The book is “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness,” by Jamil Zaki.
The angels were holding a washcloth over my mouth, and I was struggling against them.My arms and legs were thrashing.I was suddenly afraid that I could not breathe. I had awakened to find them basically on top of me, and I didn’t know what was happening. The angels were using a spray bottle to pour […]
The MAGA-GOP really IS saying “my choice” to the autonomy of actual women.
But theologically they also say “my choice” to “the Body of Christ.”
The two are, horrifically, interconnected.
One is the actions of actual human men toward human women, demanding an ownership of actual women’s bodily autonomy.
The other is a prior “theological ownership” over Jesus….demanding the control of the Body of Christ.
“If not for thirty years of God’s grace, the forgiveness of friends, and a near constant repentance for my sins, I could be a Trump voter.
I think about this a lot. I think about the White men who will be voting for Trump, and everyone else in his “post-Republican Party coalition.” I’d like to speak to them one final time before this election…”
Until we reverse the tide of our abandonment of the real world, in favor of the digital one, we’ll continue to see data like the NYT show us here.
That means finding ways to talk to our neighbors, our actual neighbors in the actual places where we live, across the divides….not even necessarily about politics…but just connecting with them as human beings have connected for thousands of years.
“There is a Biblical sin called “hubris,” or pride that makes us believe we can control things we cannot control.
You, as a voter, cannot control what Trump will do.
You, as a voter, cannot insure there will be “guardrails” this time.
If you think you can, you are deluding yourself…and I will again post comments below from many former “Team Trump” member who have repented of their hubris and realize the real threat he is.”
If all goes according to plan, this will be my final writing before the 2024 election.I find myself not only anxious about the election itself, but about what might be coming after.So, instead of political election talk, I’d like to turn to societal and theology talk. It was probably in the early 1990s that I […]
“The exectution of Robert Roberson is a murder being committed in the name of every Texan.
It is a moral stain that —should what we expect to happen, happen tonight— covers every single living Texan.”
Look, I’m on the broad political left. So I get that if you’re a conservative voter and have read this far, you probably think I’m overblowing all of this.
But I’d ask you consider how his former Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, has called Trump “Fascist to the core…”
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