brian - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T05:44:08Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/brianReligion News: Amid churches’ challenges comes a story of divine interventionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/religion-news-amid-churches-challenges-comes-a-story-of-divine-in2020-09-01T18:03:02.000Z2020-09-01T18:03:02.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Janis Fontaine</strong></p>
<p>Just as the response to the coronavirus varies in different cultural, social and political arenas, the same is true in local churches. The one thing they share is a desire to serve and help, and they are on the front lines when families are in crisis. <br /> Here’s what’s happening at some churches.<br /> <br /> At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, Father Paul Kane reports that “our Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida has mandated closure of all churches at least until there is a 14-day, gradual decrease in COVID-19 cases in Palm Beach County. So far, our numbers are not heading in the right direction.”<br />Kane says the church has a reentry plan that gives details on the protocols it will follow when it is deemed safe to reopen for in-person worship. <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960961280,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960961280,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="127" height="159" alt="7960961280?profile=original" /></a>In the meantime, Kane says that online giving, the backbone of the church’s community support, has increased. People who used to put cash in the collection plate have signed up to give online. The congregation’s needs have increased as well, but its members have stepped up to help.<br /> Kane says the complexity of the pandemic, and the myriad issues driving the demand for church support, make everything harder to manage. <br /> “Consider,” he says, “we’re dealing with the health and well-being of our congregants, especially those living in nursing homes and crowded public housing facilities; the mental health of our entire community, especially those who live alone and those who suffer from addictions; the strain on our health care system; the economic impact, especially on small businesses and newly unemployed people; and the spiritual impact of not being able to gather in-person for worship.”<br /> To help, Kane says, “Our clergy provide ongoing pastoral care by phone, and we have six ministries who have dedicated themselves to praying for those people on our parish prayer list. We have also initiated a Prayer by Phone ministry, with prayer partners available five days per week.”<br /> Kane said the church hadn’t lost any members to COVID as of mid-August, but members have lost family, friends and co-workers to the virus. The prayer partners have been especially helpful to people who are grieving, he said. <br /> <br /> Advent Lutheran Church reports in-person worship resumed at both its locations — Boca Raton and Lantana — under CDC and local guidelines. In Boca, attendance was increasing in August.</p>
<p>One happy first: Andrew Hagen, lead pastor for Advent Life Ministries, says the church performed its first socially distanced baptism in the church since the crisis began. <br /> Hagen says donations are up slightly over previous years. <br /> <br /> At Unity of Delray Beach, the Rev. Laurie Durgan reports, “We’re keeping members and guests close via digital virtual means.” <br /> Programs to help keep people connected include:<br /> • Sunday: Guest speakers and meditations, minister talks and children’s videos and music by musical director D. Shawn Berry and soloist Daniel Cochran. <br /> • Tuesday: Prayer services<br /> • Wednesday: Meditation services<br /> • Thursday: The Morning Prosperity Class with Charlene Wilkinson (phone) and the Lunch Prosperity Class with Dymin Dyer (Zoom).<br /> If you need prayer, listen to new prayers on the Dial-a-Prayer line at 561-900-2559, email a prayer request to unitychurch@unityschool.com or speak to a prayer chaplain at 561-276-5796. Info at <a href="http://www.unityofdelraybeach.org">www.unityofdelraybeach.org</a>. <br /> <br /> Hot news! <br /> In early August, Pastor D. Brian Horgan of St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach says divine intervention woke him in the middle of the night to alert him to an electrical fire in the rectory, “right outside my bedroom door.” <br /> The parish priest likes to play the radio to fall asleep at night, and the radio, plus the breathing device he uses for his sleep apnea, prevented him from hearing the smoke alarm. Instead, he says, God woke him. <br /> Horgan tried to use a fire extinguisher he keeps on hand to fight the flames, but the fire was too big. He called the Fire Department, which quickly traveled the quarter-mile to the church to take care of the blaze. <br /> “The place is mess,” Horgan said, and his clothes all smell like smoke, but he’s grateful.<br /> “I was very lucky,” Horgan said. “I used to joke about divine intervention. I don’t anymore.”</p></div>Tennis: New pro at Delray Beach Club glad for chance to settle downhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/tennis-new-pro-at-delray-beach-club-glad-for-chance-to-settle-dow2019-12-03T20:53:34.000Z2019-12-03T20:53:34.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960913484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960913484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="7960913484?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Jesse Levine, a Boca Raton pro who ranked as high as No. 69 in the world, is the new tennis director at the Delray Beach Club, succeeding Chuck Narvin. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong></p>
<p>By some accounts, Delray Beach Club tennis director Chuck Narvin is retiring for the fifth time. Narvin, 78, insists it’s only three.</p>
<p>Whatever the arithmetic, Narvin informed the club last summer the time had come to step away and the search began for his successor.</p>
<p>Enter Jesse Levine.</p>
<p>A Boca Raton product who as a player climbed to No. 69 in the world, Levine applied for the job and was at Wimbledon coaching Jessica Pegula when he heard from the club’s human resources manager, Kristi Frias.</p>
<p>“It was very good timing,” said Levine, 32.</p>
<p>“Being on the road 25-30 weeks a year is tough, and I’d been doing that since I was 14, 15 years old, living out of a suitcase,” he said. “I wanted to be at home, sleep in my bed, be close to my family and my girlfriend. It was important to get where the travel was minimized.”</p>
<p>Levine arrived in early November and planned to spend about a month working alongside Narvin to make for a smooth transition.</p>
<p>“I have big shoes to fill,” he said. “The members have nothing but good things to say about Chuck. Over the last few weeks I’ve gotten to spend almost every day with Chuck, and that’s been really neat, learning from him and learning about the culture he’s built here.”</p>
<p>A South Florida resident starting in 1973, Narvin spent time at Inverrary in Lauderhill, Woodmont, Gleneagles and the Country Club at St. Andrews before “retiring” and moving to Phoenix in 2004. He wound up at Anthem Country Club working four jobs.</p>
<p>“I was a teacher at Anthem with Walter Hurd, a substitute teacher, a ranger on the golf course and coached the team at Boulder Creek High School,” Narvin said.</p>
<p>The Delray Beach Club lured him back in 2011.</p>
<p>“I’ve been able to use my marketing skills as much as possible to develop a tennis program that took care of everything — social, competitive, and so forth,” he said.</p>
<p>“He came and pulled it all together,” General Manager Shane Peachey said. “He was exactly what we needed at the time. He’s done an amazing job, and Jesse has sort of picked up the racket and is taking it to the next level.”</p>
<p>A native of Ottawa, Canada, Levine moved to Boca with his family at 13 and played five sports at Boca Prep: soccer, golf, tennis, baseball and basketball.</p>
<p>He stopped the other four after realizing his junior year that tennis was his ticket to a college scholarship and wound up playing No. 1 singles at the University of Florida.</p>
<p>“I was there with Tim Tebow and my first day we won a national championship,” he said, referring to UF football.</p>
<p>Levine made All-America before turning pro in 2007.</p>
<p>At 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds, he needed to rely on quickness and fitness to hang with players like Gulf Stream’s Kevin Anderson, who stands 6-8.</p>
<p>“Being 5-9 has its limitations,” he said. “Everyone said I wasn’t going to be big enough or strong enough, but to me that builds fire. When they told me I wasn’t going to be able to do something, that just gave me more motivation to go and do it.</p>
<p>“When I cracked the top 100 at 18 people were like, ‘Who knows?’ I never said I was top 20, or top 50. I just wanted to maximize my game and be the best I could possibly be. I wound up getting to No. 68, and if somebody had told me that when I was 12, I would have signed on the dotted line.”</p>
<p>The winner of several national tournaments as a youngster, Levine scored his biggest match victory as a pro against former world No. 1 Marat Safin at Wimbledon in 2009. Five years later an elbow injury forced him into retirement.</p>
<p>“I got to walk away on my terms,” he said. “Not a lot of athletes can say that.”</p>
<p>Under contract as a player with Nike, Levine signed on with the sportswear giant as a talent scout while also serving as an analyst for the Canadian broadcaster Sportsnet.</p>
<p>He had become friends with Jeff Cohen, tennis director at Woodfield CC in Boca, and signed on as his assistant running the junior program.</p>
<p>Then came an offer to coach Madison Keys, whom he helped reach No. 7 in the world in 2016.</p>
<p>“Who knows if I’ll ever get a chance to coach a top-10 player again, so I jumped on that, and that led to coaching Jessica Pegula the last 21/2 years,” Levine said.</p>
<p>The daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, Jessica earned her first WTA title in August, just after she and Levine parted ways.</p>
<p>As much as he enjoyed working with top players, Levine said he gets just as much satisfaction from mentoring club members.</p>
<p>“It’s a lot different but it’s fun because there’s a lot of room for improvement, and they get such joy out of small improvements in their game,” he said.</p>
<p>“With the pros it’s more about focus, and mentality and pattern of play in their game. Here you change something. … I just got off the court with a member and he was so excited that he was starting to hit topspin backhands. That makes you feel good, to know you helped somebody.”</p>
<p>While the Delray Beach Club has only two courts on its fairly limited beachside tract, negotiations are underway to rent more, as has been done in the past.</p>
<p>Acknowledging that a solid foundation for the program is in place, Levine hopes to expand the junior program and bring in a few new ideas, such as cardio tennis.</p>
<p>“It’s about getting your heart rate up while enjoying yourself out there,” he said.</p>
<p>Narvin is confident he’s leaving the program is capable hands.</p>
<p>Levine has “impressed me with his history of playing and teaching,” Narvin said. “The members here are going to really enjoy his working here as tennis director. His personality is fantastic, and he certainly has the tennis skills to be a very good tennis director.”</p></div>