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.
While I was in Colorado on vacation last week, I stumbled on this short Facebook essay by Sofia Echegaray. There was something about it I found absolutely lovely; something about that beautiful combination of creative accident, preparation, and (as Sofia says here) paying attention.As they say in Zen, “Don’t just do something, stand there.” There’s […]
Note: The following is a running commentary about our vacation to Colorado. Dennise has this album of pics up on Facebook. Many of the shots posted here come from there…..EF July 30thWith some guilt feelings right at the surface, and a lot of major things still unresolved at home, we have left on our vacation […]
The most recent self-disclosing Facebook game, and my answers….EF Three things of me! You’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the 3’s of YOU. At the end, choose 26 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 25 more people. If I tagged you, it’s […]
This got posted to the web about three days ago. It’s gone from about a thousand hits last night to 30,000 this morning. My strong hunch is that, by the end of the week, it’ll be in the millions. Apparently posted by Jill Peterson and Kevin Kheinz, and apparently from their actual wedding processional. Check […]
Thanks to Kathryn P for posting this on Facebook. This is a great lecture from Michael Welch, talking about YouTube culture…which could actually be seen as Facebook culture, or blogger culture, I suppose. The point is, it’s a good analysis of where we are now with these new media outlets, and how they’re not necessarily […]
We own a pretty amazing house in Old East Dallas (Junius Heights, specifically) that we rent out. We believe that our renters intended to give their “notice” very soon that they’ll be leaving. So, we’ll be looking to rent it again. You can see pics here. If you have any interest, contact me privately here. […]
Rueben Navarrette spent several years here in North Texas as a commentator for the Morning News. He’s now based in San Diego. I have not always agreed with everything he’s written, and often found myself arguing with him when he was here. But this essay about what it was like for him –and what it […]
This summer at Northaven we’ll be doing a series on the values of a Progressive Christian, at least as we understand them to be. Below is the link to the first sermon in this series, delivered this morning at church. It got a lot of nice comments today, and a couple of very emotional reactions […]
I’m thinkin’ I’m bound to get a brain freeze later today. I’m thinkin’ I’m bound to do it intentionally. Here on the 11th day of the seventh month, 7-11 is serving up free slurpees all day. Don’t say I never passed along any crucial information on this blog. Today is 7-11’s 82 birthday, and as […]
Some of you will remember my undying love and passion for hybrid cars. I think they are very very cool machines, represent an incredible technology, and are a real and tangible way to save the planet and win the war on terror. If those claims sound like overly dramatic to you, you can read this […]
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