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.

Dan Fogelberg Tribute Show This Friday at LLUMC

April 29, 2008.Reading time 4 minutes.

A reminder that Connections Band will be in concert this Friday night at Lovers Lane UMC in Dallas. Here are the details: Connections Band Tribute to Dan Fogelberg Friday, May 2nd, 7 pm Asbury Hall, Lovers Lane UMC 9200 Inwood Road Dallas, Texas 75220 214.691.4721 As many of you will remember, our tribute show to […]

The Cell Phone Debacle and What it Should Tell Us

April 28, 2008.Reading time 9 minutes.

Over the weekend, news broke of conservative elements within the United Methodist Church attempting to sway votes at the General Conference by providing cell phones to international delegates from Africa and elsewhere. On the one hand, this move might be passed off as simply the kind of politics that goes on during a conference like […]

Consider the Bluebonnets: An Earth Day Meditation

April 26, 2008.Reading time 25 minutes.

(Note: as “Earth Week” draws to a close, I offer this edited sermon text from two weeks ago. You can actually hear the slightly modified spoken version by clicking<here.) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more […]

What I Did on My Blog Vacation

April 25, 2008.Reading time 14 minutes.

As you know, my blog’s been down and out for three months. But, as you might imagine, that hasn’t stopped me from blogging. How, you say? Well, the truth is that I’ve always cross-posted many of my blog entries to other sites, depending upon the content. So, that’s what I’ve been doing quite a bit […]

David LaMotte Gets Spun

April 25, 2008.Reading time 6 minutes.

Wanted to blog about this quickly this morning, because it seems to be breaking on the blogs, and it involves an actual friend of mine… David LaMotte is a truly fine songwriter friend from the great city of Asheville, North Carolina. I was overhearing some audio from the Huffington Post this morning, and thought “that […]

What Connections Band Did During My Blog Vacation

April 25, 2008.Reading time 10 minutes.

Another loss of not having the blog these past few months is not being able to tell you all the incredible stuff happening with Connections Band. Because it’s been an absolutely cool couple of months with four great shows. We set a goal of playing about a show a month this year. But because of […]

What I Always Believed About Saddam

January 29, 2008.Reading time 17 minutes.

In the context of early 2008 –with the “Surge” apparently reducing violence in Iraq, with the US Economy in the tank, and with everybody fixated on the presidential primaries as a way to take our minds off the past seven years –it may well be that nobody wants to hear any additional analysis of the […]

Missing the Mark on MLK Day

January 25, 2008.Reading time 20 minutes.

If you put together a list of the five people in Dallas who do the most to help the poor, Larry James would surely be on that list. Larry’s been a friend for over fifteen years now, and I have been and admirer of his for all of that time. He began ministry as a […]

Why You Never Need to Leave Texas

January 23, 2008.Reading time 14 minutes.

Haven’t done a “Things to Like About Texas” entry in quite a while. My friends/family in Atlanta added that fair burg to this list. And I added several more to the international category. They’ve got an asterisks by them. (Did I mention that I always loved geography?) If you think of you own, email or […]

More on Military Deaths

January 22, 2008.Reading time 4 minutes.

A little more on my blog on military deaths… Kim emailed yesterday to ask a good question: “What are the leading causes of death for each of these years/eras? Is there any data on this?” Don’t know why I didn’t stop to ask that question myself. On Sunday, I was in such a hurry to […]