Praying for a Peaceful March.

As I wrote on this blog back in 2006, this original MegaMarch was one of the most amazing days I've ever seen. Around 500,000 peaceful marchers, moving through downtown Dallas, waving American flags and chanting "USA, USA..."

 I know everyone associated with tomorrow's march hopes and prays for a similar day. Tonight, I saw a televised debate between Domingo Garcia and a counter-protest-leader named Chris Krok.

Krok is a talk radio personality from KLIF who has been here in Dallas only a few months. He comes from a smaller market town in Georgia. I have never heard him before tonight. However, what I heard tonight has me concerned. If he is as angry and combative on the air, and in the ways his whips up the counter-protesters, things tomorrow could be quite different.

It's clear he's an expert at taunting and goading his adversaries. If he encourages people to do it tomorrow, it could be that some of the more than 100,000 persons present takes his bait. 

I call on him publicly to renounce any inflammatory rhetoric and to exhort his counter-protesters to do the same. I am grateful that Domingo Garcia has done this all along among MegaMarch supporters, making it very clear that all who march in support of reform are called to be peaceful and non-violent.

I call on everyone who will be out tomorrow to show the best of America by advocating for your positions with hearts filled with peace and respect.

 

Read More

My Remarks at the MegaMarch Press Conference

Friday, I took part in a press conference of religious leaders, gathered to show their support for the MegaMarch. I've already posted the comments at Northaven's blog. But I thought I'd post it here too. The press conference was covered in the DMN here, and here's a pretty decent news story from Channel 11.


The DMN story has generated quite a few comments. A few of them were thoughtful; many were really quite angry and bitter. There are obviously a lot of feelings on all sides of these issues.


Prepared remarks for a press conference in support of comprehensive immigration reform, the Dream Act, and the MegaMarch.
Dallas City Hall
April 29, 2010

My name is Rev. Eric Folkerth and I am the senior pastor of Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas.

I am pleased to be standing before you this afternoon in support of comprehensive immigration reform, the Dream Act, and the MegaMarch.

I am pleased to tell you that members of Northaven United Methodist Church --myself included-- took part in the original MegaMarch of 2006. We were honored and humbled then to march alongside of 500,000 of our Latino/Latina brothers and sisters. And we look forward to being a part of the march on this coming Saturday.

All of us here today stand before you as leaders of our churches and synagogues. I stand before you because I believe Jesus commands those of us who follow him as Lord and Savior to "Love our neighbor as ourselves."

And in the Gospels of Jesus, Jesus is very clear that our "neighbor" is often a person of another race...an outsider...a foreigner...those who are considered "different."

I stand before you, because I believe standing for the rights of immigrants is part of following the commandments of Jesus.

Old Testament law (the Hebrew scriptures )also reminds us that God's holy people were once foreigners in a strange land. And, therefore, God commands faithful people, then and now, to treat the foreigner, the "alien," the outsider as if they were one of your own. That's in the Bible!

So, we are not as here as politicians. We are here to speak to what we believe to be God's commandments.

A moment ago, I mentioned the original MegaMarch of 2006. To those of you in the media, to those of you who are our elected leaders, I implore you to refer back to that march as you also look forward to Saturday's march.

Please hear this next sentence: The MegaMarch of 2006 was the largest single peaceful demonstration in the history of Dallas, Texas by a factor of ten. Think about that. It was the largest peaceful demonstration on ANY social issue in ANY historical time, in Dallas' history.

Saturday's march will likely take its place as no less than the second largest march in our city's history (although we of course won't know until it gets here...)

So, I implore our citizens, the media and politicians....as you evaluate angry voices on talk radio, as you hear angry calls on elected officials voicemails, please also listen to and remember the peaceful witness of the hundreds of thousands who marched in 2006, and all who will march Saturday.

We must listen to their voices too.

Saturday's march is not a response to the new Arizona law (it was planned before that news broke) but a continuation of a witness and dream --a reminder of the unfinished business of immigration reform-- that languished for years.

Concerning Arizona's new law however, those of us here today are not scholars of constitutional law, but we are scholars of God's law. And we respectfully suggest that this new law violates God's specific commandment to "love our neighbor as ourselves," and God's commandment to "treat the foreigner as if they were one of your own."

Jesus' call to love our neighbor, the desire to support immigrants and our Latino/Latina brothers and sisters everywhere, is why I will march on Saturday.

And I thank you for your time and attention today.

Read More

Fun With Statistics- Making Some "Connections"

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last blog. I'm hopelessly behind on "Daily Grats," mostly because of Easter and stuff happening around the house with construction and the break-in. One of the things that's currently a bit wiggy is Connections' own website.

So, I'll post this blog here instead.

We had an unbelievable show with Connections this past Friday night. Our biggest crowd ever --estimated by some to be almost 1,000 persons-- and another incredible night of fund raising for a great cause. Oh yeah....and another rockin' show with our incredible band...

(Click here for more of these pics at our Facebook page)

Last Friday was historic for a number of reasons:

-- We officially passed the four-year mark (show-wise) in the life of the band.
-- We had our biggest crowd EVER.
-- We played our first "outdoor" gig, at the lovely Joe Farmer Amphitheater.
-- And, last but not least, we passed the $100,000 mark in total funds raised to date.

That's right. Connections has raised more than $100,000 for UMCOR and Nothing But Nets!!!

So, I've done a little updating of our spreadsheets to reflect the most current info. Here's a bar graph of the funds raised "all time."

We are now officially at $ 103,896 dollars raised.

Interestingly, the shows have appeared to break down almost evenly between beneficiaries:

And, finally, one last chart that shows the amount of money we've raised each year of our band's life:

A few comments on this last graph...

We only did three shows that very first year. We did four shows in 2007, and raised double the money of the year before. 2008 was the year we really broke out, doing quite a few more shows and having what was, up until now, our best fundraising year ever.

However, as you can see, 2010 should theoretically blow the lid off of this. We are only $900 away from breaking that 2008 total, through just FOUR shows!!!

But here's the final fascinating statistic...






Of the $100K that we have raised so far, $61,000 of it has come in just the past 13 months! Almost two-thirds of what we've raised alltime has come in the last one-fourth of our band's life.


Holy cow.

We're all more than a little blown away.

People ask us, "So what's happened?"

I think the main thing that's happen is YOU. You have traveled all across the Metroplex to see show after show, and you have told or brought your friends with you to each succeeding show. Our average attendance is certainly rising, and with that, so has the incredible generosity of our audiences. And that's because of YOU.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Earlier this year, I was having dinner with a musician friend of mine; a guy who has a lot of experience in the folk/acoustic music world. He had been reading about the band, and I was telling him about our crowds.

He said, "Wow....do you know how amazing it is to have 3...4...500 people at a show? Most touring acts never get that..."

I said, "I know...I know...."

And we do. All of us in the band know what an incredibly amazing thing this has been. It's a blessing to us to be able to play music together and that, in four years, we've managed to keep this fairly big ship going. It's a blessing to have so many folks come out to shows, and to give them a chance to not only enjoy the music, but also do something good for the world. It's a blessing to help the local church, and the general image of Methodism in North Texas.

Several times in the past years, we've heard clergy colleagues tell us "You all are the best thing our Annual Conference does."

And that's deeply gratifying. But why not more? How about a few more "outside the box" ideas?

A part of what makes the band interesting is folks seeing ministers in a different role...enjoying themselves as real people. There's an approachability there that is important to us.

As one "fan" told us after a recent show: "There is something inherently trustworthy about a minister who can rock out."

I like that. We all do. We're more honored than proud to be a part of it...humbled and wide-eyed, really.

We're pleased to be a part of something that is such a "win...win...win" for us, the church, and everybody who comes.

And, as we have said many times before, we say thanks to God...and thanks to all of you.

Read More