Connections LIVE!
/
by Rev. Eric Folkerth
KPUMC Family:
By now, I hope that most of you have heard the news that our band, Connections, will be coming to Kessler Park on October 9th. We’re very excited to be coming to play a show for you all.
When: Saturday, October 9th at 3:30 pm
Where: Roberts Forest
(NO rain location! Outdoor show, or no show at all.)
Missional Cause: The “HERO Fund” of St. Luke UMC. (info below)
Bring your lawn chair or blanket. Bring food and drink of your choosing. And come enjoy some “great music for a great cause.”
I thought I’d take my column this week to share a bit more about the band itself because the story is an interesting one.
But, also check out our band website. There are pictures, stories, and even sound clips for you to hear.
Connections was born just over fifteen years ago at a clergy retreat of ministers from the North Texas Conference. One night, I invited some guitar-playing friends up to my room to a “song circle” where we traded/played our favorites. Among them was a guy I’d never met before: Rusty King. Rusty is a music minister at FUMC Allen, and the thing that drew me to him was that he knew as many Dan Fogelberg songs as I did. Fogelberg is my all-time favorite singer-songwriter and I know just about all of his most obscure songs.
About four or five of us sat in that circle for hours, much like I might do with my professional musician friends around the late night campfires at the Kerrville Folk Festival.
At the end of the night, Rusty threw out a crazy idea: “We should do a Dan Fogelberg Tribute Show!”
Well…I was obviously in for that. But my immediate question was: “*I* would love that, but who *else* would come?”
As it turns out: 200 people came!
We rehearsed a band —fronted by Methodist clergy, and filled in with lay folks from our churches— and put on our first show in March of 2006. The show was free, but that night we raised $2,000 for malaria prevention in Africa in a “love offering.”
We realized we’d hit on an amazing formula:
People and churches love this music and are yearning for “fun and family-friendly” activities.
We could also raise funds for worthy causes in the process, making it an amazing “connection” between music, fun, and mission.
And so, Connections was born.
We’ve now played over 50 shows. We expanded well beyond Fogelberg, and over the years have done entire shows from artists like Chicago, Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Elton John, Carol King, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Steve Miller…and on and on…
If there’s an artist from the 70s with a chart topping song, we’ve probably covered them.
Invariably, folks come up to us after our shows and say “Hey! You guys are really good!”
We benefit from low-expectations, obviously. Who expects great classic rock from a bunch of preachers?
Incredibly, in those 50-plus shows, we have now played for thousands of people all over North Texas and raised more than $330,000 for worthy charities!
It’s a phenomenal story, really. And it’s been super humbling to be a part of it.
The show we’re bringing to Kessler will be a “Best Of Connections” show, where we’ll play one or two songs from these artists. It’s a high energy, high fun show.
Our “beneficiary” of the night will be “The HERO Fund.” Hero stands for: “Housing Eviction Relief Opportunity.” It’s a fund created by our friends at St. Luke UMC to assist Dallas residents who are in danger of eviction.
As you may have heard, the eviction moratorium has been lifted, and all across our nation the rates of evictions are rising. This, at a time when many folks are still finding it hard to do their jobs as the pandemic continues.
Therefore, our “love offering” this night will go directly to assist this good work. (Less show expenses. The band plays for free, but we have other costs we must cover.)
As you may know, we’d originally planned this show for May of last year. But the pandemic put an end to that idea. In fact, these shows are likely our *last* shows before the band takes a hiatus to work on other projects…all the more reason to come and see us now!
Our plan is for this to be an *outdoor* show. Because of our current COVID protocols, we don’t see how we can offer this show inside, and we’re pretty sure folks won’t come if we have to.
I know we are all looking for safe activities that “connect” us together. We’re yearning to be together.
I certainly hope we’ll have a LARGE crowd in Roberts Forest. For our shows to be successful in our mission giving, we generally shoot for crowds of 200 or more.
So….Kessler friends….we need your help…
1. SPREAD THE WORD AND PLAN TO COME!
If everybody who attends on Sundays or watches online comes to the show, we’ll have a great crowd.
AND! If each of us invites just one more person, we’ll have an *amazing* crowd.
We should soon have posters and other publicity we can share with you. But your word of mouth is more valuable than anything. That’s why I’m sharing the backstory of the band with you today, and the website, so you can become “evangelists” for this event.
2. VOLUNTEERS!
We need a day-of “host crew,” and some “roadies.” We need some volunteers to help host our crowd, our band, and to assist with set-up and tear down. If you’re interested in any of those, please contact me.
3. SPONSORSHIP
We’d love for 100% of our “love offering” to go toward the cause of eviction relief. But, there are costs we must cover for this to happen. If you’d like to help cover our show costs (primarily: paying our sound engineer), please contact me. Sponsorship will allow donors that night to know that 100% of what they give goes straight to needy families. I’d be happy to share details of this if you’re interested.
Our goal would be to raise thousands of dollars for eviction relief!
I have every hope this will be an amazing night for our church and for North Oak Cliff. Help us make it special!
Spread the word, and see you this Sunday.
Eric Folkerth