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.

Sixty-Two Years. Two Times. One Game. One Strike.

October 25, 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

Sixty-two years.Two Times.One Game.One Strike. Whatever you think of our passion for our Texas Rangers, I have more baseball math for you this morning. You may still think we (me) are (am) too cocky, brash, and abrasive in our joy over the Texas Rangers’ trip the World Series.Fine. I’ll stand in the box and take […]

Vandergriff’s 50-Year Vision Comes True.

October 24, 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

This morning, at the conclusion of a truly entertaining ALCS between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros, I am thinking of the visionary leadership of Tom Vandergriff. Vandergriff was a visionary not only because of his work to get the Texas Rangers to DFW, but because of his even greater vision for the entire […]

Baseball Remembers The Cheaters

October 22, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

When I was a kid, my grandfather Mays gave me his copy of the “Encyclopedia of Baseball.” At the time, it was a one volume set that kept all the records of every team, every player, from the very beginning of the sport. More than perhaps any other sport, baseball is obsessed with its past, […]

Summer

August 5, 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Thank you for gently tolerating my love of summer this year. I hope you can recognize that I am generally reciprocating by not bloviating about how great it is every day. (Yes. This post is an exception) I am incredibly aware that this is the kind of summer that tests the resolve of even the […]

Jason Aldean’s Song

July 26, 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

With some trepidation, I’ll share a few thoughts on the Jason Aldean song controversy. I’d like to speak to what I’m hearing from all sides of this debate…commenting a bit as both preacher and songwriter. In this critique, I will only analyze the song itself… 1: The song *might* be about lynching.It never mentions lynching, […]

The 2023 NT Conference: “A New Day”

June 16, 2023.Reading time 41 minutes.

Dear Kessler Park Members and Friends: What follow is a longish summary of what has just taken place this week as the North Texas Conference met in Plano, Texas. I can’t apologize for the length. Because, honestly, a LOT happened, and you need to know about it. Let me start at the very end, because […]

How Eric Ruined your Cinco de Mayo

May 5, 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

It’s Cinco de Mayo and so, like every stereotypical White person in America, I am thinking about Tex Mex.Maybe I’ll go get some at one of my favorite places… Maybe we’ll head over to “Acapulquena.”Oh RIGHT…they CLOSED… Well then, maybe we’ll walk over to “Matt’s Lakewood.”Oh RIGHT…they CLOSED… Well, then, maybe we’ll jump over to […]

Open Letter to Gov. Abbott (re: Cleveland shootings)

May 2, 2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Dear Gov Abbott, I am writing you as a Christian pastor, and calling out your inclusion of the phrase “illegal immigrant” in your tweet regarding the senseless murders of five innocent people in Cleveland, Texas. I would remind you how our common faith in Jesus Christ insists that “In Christ there is no Jew or […]

We Are Bad at Seeing (The Emmaus Road and Stevie Ray Vaughan)

April 26, 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.

Meditating on it this week led me to recall those four bystanders that got shot by so-called “good guys with guns, a book by Malcomb Gladwell, and (weirdly) Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Strap in, folks…

What Cornered White People Sound Like

April 14, 2023.Reading time 5 minutes.

Everyone needs to hear this leaked video. It reveals several things about America, all at once. It highlights our polarized and racialized politics… It could have been recorded in any statehouse in the old Confederacy, as a conversation White men have when they think nobody is listening. There is no question that it reconfirms every […]