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.
Hey East Texas Friends: I’m gonna be spending some significant time in East Texas, playing two shows in two weekends. One is with the band, and one is a solo show. Here are all the details: Connections Tribute to Billy Joel and Stevie WonderMarch 5th, 7 pmMabank High School AuditoriumHwy 175 at Hwy 198 The […]
OK, I’ve had it. It’s icing again outside. We’re scheduled to have below freezing temps for the next two days….including a current wind chill of minus one. (Yes, right now) The weather around here, for the past few weeks, has been beyond insane. And beyond having to contend with it ourselves, we’ve had to contend […]
What follows is a text version of Sunday’s sermon. You can hear it here. Apologies for the stuffed up nose…) I try to pay attention to morning “ear worms.” I find that they are almost always some kind of message I should be paying attention to. This week, on two separate mornings, the “ear worm” […]
(A sermon delivered at Northaven United Methodist Church, Sunday January 9th, 2011, in response to the shooting of Rep Gabby Giffords. Apologies for any and all typos. Let me know and I’ll correct them…) Listen to it here. This morning, I am weary. This morning, I am tired. This morning, I am, in a sense, […]
It’s become a tradition for me to reset the “number of plays” on the iPod/iTunes each Jan 1st and, come December 31st, to see where my ear has led me in the year that has passed. Clearly, it was another awesome year in music. In years past, I have spent a lot of time on […]
Black Friday has never been the same since 2008. That year, it turned from something mildly annoying to something approaching evil. I know, I know. You’re already calling me a Debbie Downer. I know, I know, I’m probably too late to stop you from shopping today. But if I could, I would. Yes, I’m a […]
(I intended to post this sermon weeks ago, but life marches on and I never got around to it. This was preached in response to the bullying deaths of several LGBT teens in the weeks prior. You can hear it here. Significantly, at the conclusion of the sermon it got a standing ovation…which I take […]
Just a last minute post to say how excited I am about the shows coming up in the next few days. First off, Connections is back with our new show. We’ve been rehearsing the past few months, and tomorrow night we’re back with our fifth tribute show: Connections Tribute to Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder […]
I want you to spend a few minutes and listen to some audio links below. The first is a story I heard tonight on KERA, driving home from the “Second Monday” series at Northaven. (And it led me to the second link when I got inside to my computer…) It was a “driveway moment” for […]
I’ve talked about the Fogelberg Weekend on Facebook, but not here at the blog. It’s a pretty amazing thing that’s fallen in my lap in the past month. The last weekend of August, the City of Peoria, Illinois will dedicate a memorial to Dan Fogelberg along the riverside there. You can read about it here. […]
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