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.

Five Years Later: Remembering the hole in my heart, and the question on my mind

September 12, 2006.Reading time 14 minutes.

Last night, Dennise and I watched a 911 documentary on CBS. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It’s from two French film-makers who, in the summer of 2001 shadowed a FDNY unit in an attempt to tell the story of a “rookie’s coming of age.” But late that summer, on the morning […]

Oh Yezz….Oh Yezz….Oh Yezzz…Time for some College Football!!

September 10, 2006.Reading time 7 minutes.

I LOVE college football. Next to pro-baseball, it’s probably my favorite sport. And, given my disdain for the Rangers these days, I could easily argue that I even love it more than baseball these days.There is just something about the pageantry, the emotion, the excess of it. Pro football feels too, well, professional for me. […]

Labor Day 2006

September 5, 2006.Reading time 4 minutes.

Labor Day 2006 A reflection by Dr. Joerg Rieger, Professor of Systematic Theology, Perkins School of Theology When asked about the most important commandment, Jesus replied: “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” … and “You […]

Blogs of the Month: August 06

September 1, 2006.Reading time 5 minutes.

It’s been a full month since the blog-software meltdown. It’s been two months since the Mavs playoffs. That means we now have a full month of blog entries not affected by either my inability to post, or the hits from Gordon Keith’s site. So, it’s back to a relatively calm month for the blog. Lots […]

Connecting the Dots on the Cost of Immigrants

August 26, 2006.Reading time 19 minutes.

I’m back to writing on immigration issues again. I’m not here tell you that migrant workers don’t cost the American economy. I’m sure they do. Every adult in this country costs the economy something. But if we are going to have a proper debate about the costs of migrant workers to our economy, then we […]

Too Young for Test Anxiety

August 19, 2006.Reading time 11 minutes.

For the uninitiated, TAKS stands for “Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.” It’s a standardized test given to Texas school children. The descendent of tests first created during George Bush’s governorship, they are required for advancement through Texas public school. And they are first given to students in the Spring of their third grade year. […]

If Everybody Claims Victory, Does Everybody Win? (Israel and Hezbollah)

August 17, 2006.Reading time 15 minutes.

Maybe the song is too simplistic, and visualizing one of the world’s long-standing conflicts as nothing more than a “sibling rivalry” is naive. But the metaphor seems to fit, to my mind. Most sibling rivalries go on for so long that nobody even remembers quite what started them. This story starts with two “half brothers” […]

A Tribute to the Eagles and Chicago (An Upcoming Show)

August 16, 2006.Reading time 3 minutes.

The core of the “Living Legacy” band is back. Doing Chicago means we obviously have to have a strong horn section. And, after rehearsal last night, it appears that we do. Phil West is anchoring them on sax. Cornell Kinderknecht is back with more great woodwinds. The horn section is really working on learning their […]

30 Days (A TV Show You Should See)

August 13, 2006.Reading time 8 minutes.

The show comes from Morgan Spurlock, who brought us the award-winning documentary, “Supersize Me!” If you’ll remember, the premise of that film was that Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald’s food for 30 straight days to see just what, if any, affects it would have on his body and health. If you saw the film, you […]

Questions that Keep My Up at Night (After a Foiled Terrorist Plot)

August 12, 2006.Reading time 8 minutes.

Why is our “Homeland Security” Department still wasting so much money? Despite this stunning and deft capture of terror suspects, the facts are that our government is wasting billions of dollars in a so-called War on Terror. I say “so called” not because we shouldn’t fight terrorism –we should. But some of the ways we’re […]