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.
“On a scale of 1-10, 1 completely ignoring the 4th of July and 10 being First Baptist, how patriotic is our service gonna be Sunday??” This was a private Facebook message I got this week from a newer member of Northaven, concerned about worship on Sunday. He was referring to the orgy of patriotic civil […]
I get haunted by songs. I pity those who don’t. I have no idea how they make it through the day. The songs that stay with me, the earworms every morning, these get me through life. Recently, I’ve been haunted by a song from my friend, Steve Fisher. One night when I was at Kerrville […]
Add another to the list of fun and amazing places/things we get to go… Today, The Judge had the high, ahem, honor of swearing in the Mayor and City Council at an elaborate ceremony at the Myerson Center. So great to see so many family, political, and personal friends. So proud of Dennise. Blessings to […]
Bishop John Wesley Hardt has died. I just heard the news. It happened a few hours earlier today. This makes me incredibly sad, as I know it does generations of Methodists here in Texas. If you are a Methodist in Texas, it’s likely you have a John Wesley Hardt story. I also have one. And […]
When yesterday’s shooting happened, a scene from days before flashed before my eyes. It was a conversation I’d had with a longtime progressive friend. This is a friend who’s lived here in Dallas his entire adult life, and who was a young man during the Kennedy assassination. He said, somewhat offhandedly, “You know, Eric, after […]
When I was a kid, I never grasped that Adam West’s TV “Batman” was kitschy, ironic, and sarcastic. I just though it was cool. Like Pixar movies today, that TV show worked on several levels. Adults reveled in the cool 60s references, and sexual innuendo. I was five. All that went over my head. To […]
Now it can be told….The Judge had the high honor of doing a wedding for the Rangers’ Elvis Andrus, and his fiance, Cori Feebles. This was a secret that we had to keep quiet for weeks. Weeks! Can you imagine?! I didn’t tell a soul. Promise. When Dennise told me me that one of the […]
I’m a day back from the Kerrville Folk Festival now. In previous years, I used to write long entries from the fest. I’d post videos, pics, wax philosophically and theologically about the experience. I would name-drop my songwriter friends, and those I wanted as my friends. I would, as I pretty much do most days […]
Yesterday, I listened to a new Dan Fogelberg record. A new, old one. In case you haven’t heard the news, Dan’s concert at Carnegie Hall, from 1979, is being released as a live record. Even better, it’s a solo-live show. And it’s amazing. I pre-ordered the digital download some weeks ago, and it popped up […]
I am standing in front of the White House in Washington DC. It’s a warmer-than-average day, and there are 113 other souls, mostly clergy, standing with me. The throngs of ordinary tourists and sightseers have been pushed back to a wide perimeter around us by the Federal police whose job it is to secure the […]
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