Author: ericfolkerth

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.

The Moonlady

February 11, 2010.Reading time 4 minutes.

Had a meeting with the Moonlady today. The Moonlady being Amy Martin. Amy is the self-described “poobah” behind “EarthRhythms,” the group that puts on Dallas’ large annual “Winter Solsticelebration.” She’s also the editor of “Moonlady News,” an email group that is really one of the best sources for news and info on interesting things happening […]

Words I Cannot Say: A New Song

February 9, 2010.Reading time less than 1 minute.

A new song for you this morning. An instrumental one. Listen here: Words I Cannot Say (music by Eric Folkerth) If you can’t see the music player, you can download an mp3 here. Finishing it is my “Daily Gratitude” for today. Hope you like it. EF (And, yes, I know I’m a few days behind […]

The Saints

February 8, 2010.Reading time 3 minutes.

I know, I know. A Super Bowl game is not going to erase all of Hurricane Katrina. It doesn’t make “everything” better. But to listen to folks from the Gulf Coast talk, it’s the best thing that’s happened there in a long time. I’m so glad the Saints won, and (with all respect to the […]

Chris and Val

February 7, 2010.Reading time 2 minutes.

(catching up on Daily Grats…) Sunday: Chris and ValWe watched the Super Bowl on Sunday over at Chris and Val’s house. It was nice to get to spend some time with them. Dennise, Chris and me have now officially known each other for a few weeks more than 20 years. We each met each other, […]

Maria the Gymnast

February 6, 2010.Reading time 1 minute.

(catching up on Daily Grats…) Maria had a gymnastics meet Saturday night in South Arlington. It was her first in several months and in a new gymnastics league. She did *great.* She had her best overall meet ever, and did very well in every event. What I was pleased by, though, was how confident and […]

Connections

February 5, 2010.Reading time 15 minutes.

I’ve written a lot about the band during these past few years. So, some of this is a repeat. We’ve got another show tonight and, with any luck, we’ll surpass a total of $90,000 raised for missions, with a very good chance of standing at the cusp of $100, 000. That’s just beyond imagining for […]

Andy Gullahorn’s Song, "That Guy"

February 5, 2010.Reading time 5 minutes.

I’m almost always haunted by songs. On just about every day of life, a song comes from somewhere and swirls around inside my head. I know I’m not alone in this. The best of them can stay around for weeks. Sometimes months. The current song haunting my soul is from Andy Gullahorn, and it’s called […]

Daily Grat: Six Feet Under

February 3, 2010.Reading time 5 minutes.

Given my last “Daily Gratitude” you might imagine I’ve been thinking about death. And eventually thinking about death always gets me back to “Six Feet Under,” the TV series that ran on HBO during the first half of this decade. We came late to the party with this show, not really finding it until halfway […]

Daily Grat: The Pull of the Lifeforce

February 3, 2010.Reading time 8 minutes.

I figured that the feeling I am having right now would happen at some point, I just didn’t figure it would happen this soon in the year of “Daily Gratitudes.” I figured that, at some point, I’d bump up against a day where gratitude for anything would be hard to find, and I’d be wracking […]

Thanks to DACPA

February 1, 2010.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Every now and then, the good folks at Dallas Area Progressive Christian Alliance, see fit to reprint stuff I’ve written or preached. They’ve done that with last week’s sermon (Jan. 24th) and you can read it at their site here. Many thanks to all of DACPA, and especially to Kim Bachelor for taking my notes […]