The Listening Tour

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Thank you for the generous and gracious welcome to Kessler Park this past Sunday. It felt like a good start to our connection together, and I was grateful for your kind feedback afterwards.

If you haven’t already heard the word, Wes and Leah’s passports did finally arrive to them this week. If all goes according to plan, by the time many of you read these words, they will finally be on their way to South Africa. Please be in prayer for them the next few days…for safe traveling mercies, and for a good start to their new life there.

Several of you have commented on a phrase I’ve been using the past few weeks. It was also in my sermon on Sunday. I’ve suggested a possible future for Kessler Park as ‘The cool, hip church in Dallas’ cool, hip neighborhood.’

As I told you on Sunday, coming to Kessler Park feels like it gives me an exciting opportunity to experience something new. I’ve lived in a mostly “progressive” neighborhood, I’ve been pastor at a “progressive” church. But Kessler has BOTH. Our basic theology seems to “fit” the basic social ethos of our neighborhood, and of the many people who are moving here.

All the new folks moving to North Oak Cliff present us with a unique —perhaps once in a generation— chance to welcome large numbers of new people to our church. We should seize that moment.

So, the question is: “What would it be to be the cool, hip church in Dallas’ cool, hip neighborhood?”

Elsewhere in this newsletter, you’ll find information about some “Listening Tour” dates coming up in the next few weeks. These are informal gatherings in member’s homes where I want to hear from you. My job at these gatherings will be to listen…to hear you talk about your church and your hopes and dreams for it.

— What do you love about your church?

— What do you wish we could do additionally that we’re not doing now?

— What breaks your heart about the world?

That third question is intended to get at: What needs changing around us? What are we called to help reconcile, make new, and heal?

These are the kinds of big questions that we’ll talk about during the “listening tour.” It will help me understand you all better, and also help us begin to have a conversation about our future together.

Finally, it’s reasonable to expect that during the next few weeks (maybe even months) we will have visitors in worship who come to “check us out.” Some may just be coming to check ME out. Others may use this pastoral change as a chance to come visit…maybe they’ve been thinking about it and now have an excuse to stop in.

All this is to say: Be on the lookout for visitors and guests. I hope we can all be gracious and welcoming friends to those who are seeking us out. We might even get a few new members out of it!

See you all on Sunday.

A Word from Our New Senior Pastor

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

For several weeks now, friends have been telling me, “I am excited that you will soon be the minister at Kessler Park…”

My response is always the same: “Not as excited as I am.”

And it’s true.

I’m deeply, widely, and genuinely thrilled to be your new pastor. And I can’t wait to see what God has in store for all of us together.

As a minister in the North Texas Conference, I have long been aware of the important place of Kessler Park UMC, and its rich history. Even in my first few days, I have been amazed to recall stories of all the important clergy and leaders who have come out of Kessler over the years.

But I want to say this too: I am confident that as bright as Kessler’s past has been, the potential for our future together is even brighter. North Oak Cliff is an incredibly vibrant, diverse, progressive, and growing neighborhood. Kessler Park, it has long seemed to me, is uniquely suited to be THE church that serves just that kind of neighborhood.

Several of you have already asked me what my vision is for the church.

As I’ve said to several of you already, “We should be the cool, hip, growing church for Dallas’ cool, hip, growing neighborhood.”

What does that mean?

Well, that will be for all of us to decide together.

That’s why the Staff Parish Committee will soon announce a series of “Get To Know You” gatherings in member’s homes. Please do plan to attend one of these more intimate gatherings, so we can get to know each other better, and hear about your hopes and dreams for the Church. Dennise, Maria and I look forward to getting to know you all in these settings.

Here are some questions for you to start thinking over now. There may be more, but these are things I will be eager to hear from you in these small groups:

— What do you love about your church?

— What do you wish we could do to reach our community and “mission field?”

— And finally, what breaks your heart about the world, and what can our church to do heal or reconcile it?

These are questions that will, hopefully, help me get a sense of our congregation and who we are.

Friends, I would be remiss if I did not mention our mutual friend, Dr. Wes Magruder, and his beautiful family. I know some of you are deeply grieving Wes’ impending departure to South Africa. (As of this writing, the departure date is still up in the air…keep praying).

I simply want you know that I count Wes as one of my dearest friends in ministry too. When either of us has needed a listening ear —especially these past several years— more often than not we have called each other for support. So, you need to know: I am right there with you, and I will miss him deeply too.

Finally, I wanted to tell you a bit about my very short (because of the holiday) first week.

Here’s what I did…

— Met with our great staff.

— Unpacked some boxes.

— Paid a pastoral visit to some longterm members in their home.

— Attended a Prayer Vigil to protest ICE immigration raids (with other KPUMC staff and lay members)

— Planned worship for Sunday.

— Had coffee and got to know other lay members.

That’s pretty much it. And, somehow, that “form” of the first few short days, is a model for who I hope to be among you…

A pastor…who gets to know you and who cares for you and your families.

A leader of our staff team…who supports them and facilitates our work as a team.

A listener…who gets to know you each, in groups both big and small.

A preacher and teacher…who leads in worship and teaching.

A prophet…speaks on your behalf to the greater community about the Good New of God’s love and justice.

An administrator…who helps us vision and live out that vision.

Each of these roles are important. And I look forward to leading you in each of these ways.

We who are church pastors are invited to be a part of your lives in so many different and unique settings. We are invited into your homes and hospital rooms…at times of great joy or great suffering. We are invited to hear your life-stories, and help them discern your life-journey. We are called to help you do the work of the church.

I am deeply grateful for the chance to lead you in this next season of Kessler’s life. I have sense that it’s going to be a crucial and fruitful season for us all.

I am quite confident that I will fail you many times. I am hopeful that I will apologize as often as I need to. I am human and have many foibles and character traits that, I am certain will, soon enough, be annoying to some of you.

But a part of what it means to be “church” is to learn how to love one another for all of our strengths and our weakness; to recognize that we are stronger together, and that our individual gifts can be leveraged and lengthened through the grace of God, and the ministry of the messy, imperfect, and sometimes deeply frustrating community we call “Church.”

I look forward to our journey together.

See you Sunday.

Closing Ceremony

This is my last newsletter article as your pastor which means that it’s also … AWARDS TIME! Yes, it’s that time in which I look back and reflect on the best (and worst) moments of my pastoral appointment at Kessler Park UMC.

Before we begin, let me say that it has been sheer joy to serve as your pastor. It’s truly been a great appointment, and I have appreciated every moment of it. Thank you for your generosity, your kindness, and your patience.

But now to the awards …

Best Worship Moment: I have a multitude of specific memories from our worship together, including all the special services for Holy Week and Christmas, as well as funerals, weddings, and other times. But our best moments together were when we were at Holy Communion. There is no moment more sacred for a pastor than to serve the elements to each of his members, one by one. Over time, I knew what to expect from each of you — how some of you like to have the bread placed in your hand, others reach for it, some clasp my hand as I give it, some make the sign of the cross before receiving. I learned that Susan Baxley, Paige Bell, and Margot and Sylvie Tomerlin needed the gluten-free bread. I loved giving bread to small children and saying, “This bread shows you that God loves you!” There is nothing like the act of serving communion; thank you for receiving the sacrament from me these past five years!

Worst Creative Worship Idea: There are a lot of candidates in this category, I’ll admit. For example, I dressed up as Captain Bluetastic for a Children’s Time, brought a huge Jenga set onto the chancel, did an improv sermon with my comedy coach, and used all sorts of props. Some things worked, others didn’t. At least I tried to liven things up, right?! But probably the worst idea I tried — the one I cringe at when I bring it to mind — was a Christmas Eve children’s service a couple of years ago when I dressed up as a tour guide for Tony’s Holy Land Tours and led kids around the sanctuary visiting various scenes from the birth of Jesus. Probably the worst thing about it was my obnoxious faux Italian accent.

Favorite Children’s Time Moment: When Paige Bell was our Children’s Minister, she made the mistake of teaching the Hand Prayer to the children in worship. This is a method which involves a different kind of prayer corresponding to each different finger on one’s hand. From the moment she started, we all knew that disaster loomed … and sure enough, Grey Mecca was the one who proudly showed us all his middle finger!

Favorite Special Music: I loved hearing church members use their musical talents outside of the traditional music ministry. Some of my favorite memories include: Mattie Jette singing solo, a cappella, without a microphone because if she did, the roof would be blown off the building!; Nathaniel Ogren playing guitar and singing original compositions; Rob Ballard singing, “Give Me Jesus”; Jim Shoecraft singing “The Old Rugged Cross”; Hannah Price playing every time she was home from college; and every time any one of our children has ever sung, played piano, played violin, or performed in a musical. Honorable mention: even though this didn’t occur in a Sunday morning worship service, I was blown away by the woman who “played bowls” during Jeff Chandler’s memorial service. The music she made was intensely peaceful and calming.

Best Potluck Dishes: This is a dangerous topic because I am likely to leave out someone’s mother’s beloved casserole, but I’ll go out on a limb anyway. I will miss Oscar Brown’s BBQ meatballs which he brought in a crockpot. There were always leftovers which I managed to sneak home to the parsonage. I will also miss Mary Ann Climer’s gumbo and paella which also often happened to make it to the parsonage. Anything baked by Phyllis Smith is worth paying attention to; she often brought fresh-baked warm banana or pumpkin bread to staff meetings, for which I am eternally grateful. And by the way, Eugenia Williams always brought food, even if she never made it herself. She gets brownie points nonetheless.

Best Outdoor Event: Every chance I get, I remind y’all that your property is a blessing, one of the biggest assets that the church has for ministry and mission. I loved the various ways in which the church uses the campus for creating community, from movie nights to community picnics, from Stations of the Cross to Easter egg hunts. But my favorite outdoor event has to be the Palm Sunday service. I recall having the idea of bringing a live donkey to my first Palm Sunday service on the front lawn; the last two years, we’ve had a blues service on the east lawn. I hope you continue the tradition of outdoor worship at least once a year; it’s a beautiful way to take the church outside its own doors.

Finally, the category you’ve all been waiting for … Best Church Member! And the winner is …

You! Congratulations!!