The Gulf Breeze, February - March 2023 Issue

The Gulf Breeze

February / March 2023, Volume 11

What’s Inside

• Pastor Kirt: Amping Up

• Member Spotlights: Sandrea and Joe Davis; Doug Van Oort

• Behind the Scenes: Catch the Rays

• Blue Zones Project: Exercise Snacks

February March

If your name and birthday are not listed above, call the NCC office at 239-213-1325.

HOLIDAY EVENT CALENDAR

Every Other Monday –Bible Study with Dawn Birch12 Noon – everyone welcome 6 p.m. – women only

If missed, look for Dawn Birch voice memo RECAP e-mails with easy click on audio, not blue icon, to hear a recap of the Bible Study

Every Wednesday – 11 AM Issues Hour, Sunshine Room and ZOOM

Every Wednesday – 4 PM Bible Study with Pastor Kirt, Sunshine Room and ZOOM

Every Sunday – 9:30 AM

Prayer Time with Dawn Birch, Sunshine Room and ZOOM

First and Third Wednesdays – 12:30 PM

Mens’ Lunch after Issues Hour, Blueberry’s Cafe, 3350 Tamiami Trail North

Thursday, February 2

All Church Sunset Cruise Aboard The Naples Princess Already has sailed with ovr 100 NCC members and guests

Thursday, February 8

Movie Night, Paragon Theatre Gather at 6:15 PM Movie at 7:00 PM

Thursday, February 16, 12:00 PM

F3 Luncheon Deep Lagoon Restaurant

Sunday, February 26

Member Spotlight on Sandrea and Joe Davis

After the Service in the Sancturay

This will be livestreamed and recorded To access, go to the NCC website Naplescommunitychurch.org/memberspotlight

Wednesday, March 8

Movie Night at the Paragon Theatre

Gather at 6:15 PM Movie at 7:00 PM

Sunday, March 26

Member Spotlight on Doug Van Oort

After Sunday service in the sancturay

This will be livestreamed and recorded

To access, go to the NCC website

Naplescommunitychurch.org/memberspotlight

NOTE: Look for the Icons in the NCC emails to be connected to the NCC Zoom Room when it’s time for the event to begin: the blue icon (for Dawn’s Bible Study), the black icon (for Pastor Kirt’s Issues Hour), the orange icon (for the Wednesday afternoon Bible study with Pastor Kirt), and the purple icon (for the Sunday Prayer time.)

Cover Photo: Post Ian Fountain and Landscaping Resilience in Naples, Venetian Village area

Amped Up

By Pastor Kirt Anderson by Dr. Kirt Anderson

This bitter, biting, just wrong cold weather is making my radio act up. I turn on the car in the morning and am met with a loud, deep, demonic roar for about ten seconds. And the radio is new! Got it last Christmas. And the car is new. It’s a 2004! So heck, what’s the deal?

No idea why it stuck. As a little kid I was watching TV in the living room maybe because we had just visited Hollywood or because it was getting close to Christmas but Charlie McCarthy (that puppet with a top hat and spectacles) was interviewing W.C. Fields.

darkness and the darkness did not o light of the world. Sounds like Jesu

Went to Best Buy where I got the radio and talked to the guy back in the garage. Not the radio. It’s the original equipment JBL amplifier that’s starting to go, and I can get a new, after-market amp put in by them for $1,000, give or take. “Well, thank you! But it should be getting warm again soon and it’s only been a problem in the cold weather. And this is Florida!” Went home and onto YouTube.

“Is it true, Mr. Fields, that you were standing on the corner of Hollywood and Vine and cars were lined up waiting for your nose to turn green?” “That’s like Rudolph!” I thought. I didn’t get the joke but I did think about the story of poor Rudolph who didn’t get to play with the others in their reindeer games

Frosty the Snowman, because of “m silk hat “came to life” bumpety at him go but he’ll be back Newness of life? Resurrection? either magical or it is not!

I’m cheap, genetically. I remember Mom took me to Harris’ for some clothes before I left for college on a full scholarship...room, board, books, tuition, fees and a monthly allowance. Dad complained that she’d spent almost $100 on me. “Oh-ho boy!” So, I can’t help it.

Maybe I’ll give it a try. Find an amp online and put it in myself. Let’s say I went on Ebay to find an amp, to an electronics website for some diagrams, and set up a laptop in the garage so some guy on YouTube can walk me through. Let’s say I did and was successful and the stereo never sounded better. Voila! I’d know what I was talking about, right? “I’ll tell you how it’s dun!”

We in churchland can be dismissive of such “secular” songs at Christmastime, ‘cause ours tell the real story! Rudolph, Frosty, rockin’ around and jingling just don’t measure up to Mary, Joseph, Magi, shepherds, and pear trees

The themes carried through v Christmas songs are drawn, if not story itself, then from the deep human heart of memory, fami falling in love, children, warmth in the dark, redemption and hope from one to ninety-two hope fo or any teeth at all.

The bitter, biting just wrong cold of our political environment is tempting many preachers away from preaching to punditry. As one pastor explained, “...we have made a relentless commitment to tackle the politicized issues of our day. This past year we preached on racism, human sexuality, and poverty, and will soon tackle the refugee issue. Preachers must speak into the world our congregants trudge through daily.” If anything, Scripture speaks into the world we trudge through daily, unalloyed by amateurish politicizing.

Rosacea-nosed Rudolph was different from all the rest but provided light to guide them through the night. They used to call him names. But when Rudolph finished his work they all loved him and shouted out with glee. His light shone in the

Pastors can read articles and watch YouTube videos and are about as well equipped to the task as I am to swap out an amp. Politicization is reducing the integrity and majesty of the pulpit to a tawdry soapbox.

Christ makes His way into Christm more obvious songs get canceled. continues to stump the secular, the love in Christ, of Immanuel, of the being born into those vile circu broken world, continue to make th hearts. It’s been said many times, m the Savior is born!

The business of politics is deeply complex. A recent lecture by Carl Rove at our local Forum Club was mind-numbing. The history, the complexity, the relational challenges, the ethics, to say nothing of family and personal life, all inform and incline one who holds public office. They must develop an almost instinctive capacity to make decisions that affect not just their constituents but their colleagues and their own continuation in their positions. Even their kids.

In the meantime, churches are emptying, and young people are an endangered species. People ask for bread, and we give them the stone of our view on climate change; they ask for an egg and get the scorpion of guilt for being white.

I hate it.

As an octogenarian professor at Princeton Theological Seminary said in deep earnest to about 100 of us lapping up every word, “Preach the Word! Preach the Word! Preach the Word!”

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Sandrea and Joe Davis Seeking Truth in Word, Faith, and Music

by Chris Pettingill and Joe Davis

Sandrea and Joe grew up worlds apart. Yet their families were amazingly similar. Sandrea was from the Jewish community of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburg, PA. Joe grew up in small town USA, Southern style in Eastern NC.

Sandrea’s lineage was that of an immigrant Jewish family with Russian and Hungarian heritage. Joe’s heritage was that of a Welsh ancestor who arrived in Jamestown, VA, in 1745.

Sandrea was a part of the “hippie culture” of the 1960’s seeking truth, not drugs, in Eastern religions, including backpacking and living in Europe in the 70’s Joe rarely traveled 70 miles either side of his hometown, a real square by Sandrea’s standards!

Sandrea’s Dad was a daring entrepreneur with a gambling problem. Joe’s father was an ultra-conservative big band leader and tobacco farm operator. Yet both dads worked as independents and had their “pet” projects.

Growing up, Sandrea found her passion learning classical dance and piano. Joe’s ADD aided his sports endeavors but not his academics or musical inclinations.

Joe’s family tree in the US goes back to his seventh generation ancestor, James W. Davis, who arrived in the New World at Jamestown, VA, as an indentured servant in the print trade. With a Benjamin Franklin printing press, James Davis relocated to New Bern, NC, to set up the State’s first newspaper and magazine printer and became its first Postmaster General.

That Sandrea and Joe ever met was purely happenstance, in

no small part aided by the fact that Joe never met a stranger. Sandrea was the stranger he had never met!

Sandrea had decided to pursue a horticulture degree at N.C. State University in Raleigh, and it was in a sidewalk encounter that the two happened upon each other. He learned that she had written a ditty about The Irregardless Cafe and convinced her to prove it to him by playing it on a piano in the nearby

Baptist Student Center.

Two months of dating ensued in and around the N.C. State campus, grazing on all-you-can eat campus salad bars, attending international folk dances, area park picnics and meeting Sandrea’s many and varied acquaintances before Sandrea left for two months of Montessori training in Philadelphia. But happily in 1975, before heading to NY City for a teaching job, Joe convinced her to marry him and live in NC. Their journey of faith began, and the two were soon baptized in the same pool in a Raleigh Christian Missionary and Alliance Church.

Moving from Raleigh, the Davises relocated 100 miles east, to Washington, NC, along the Pamlico River, where their bookend boys and four daughters were raised. In the “original” historic Washington, they were led to buy the old, abandoned property of the Catholic Diocese’ first mission in NC, which included a quaint Gothic chapel and a 7,000 sq.ft 1906 Victorian house named Mizpah Mansion. Sandrea and Joe took full advantage of the purchase by offering music concerts, soirees, theme parties, Jewish Biblical feasts and other community events. They became fully involved in the arts in their town where Cecile B DeMille also had lived. Their youngest son just completed a total renovation of the house and chapel in time, last spring, to be married.

As a career, Joe and Sandrea ran an editorial services business for independent pharmacies and then founded and ran for eleven years a journal advertiser publication called “The Pamlico Scoop”. In 1999, Sandrea and Joe wrote and self-published a whimsical book entitled “In Search of the Thingamajig: Truth Funnier Than Fiction.”

When they closed their operation, Joe took a sabbatical and Sandrea came to Naples, where her daughters had located.

Joe commuted until they both committed to making Naples home. Sandrea began attending NCC regularly in 2017, where she now plays piano prior to church services. Joe is involved in prayer ministry led by Pastor Kirt and Dawn Birch before Sunday Worship Services begin.

The Davises have many interesting stories to tell, including miracles both have experienced over the years.

We are pleased to feature them in a Member Spotlight Event on February 26th in the Sanctuary after our church service. A light lunch will be served.

Past Member Spotlight Events

Any of our past Member Spotlight events that were recorded are now on the NCC Website and can be accessed on the Livestream page. This includes Rick and Ann Scott’s event that occurred on a “ tropical storm watch” morning so many of our church family missed it. Check it out at your leisure!

by Chris Pettingill

Behind the Scenes Catching the Rays

February and March are prime months of the calendar year to enjoy all that Naples has to offer. NCC swells in numbers reaching 200 and more in attendance on Sundays. The Staff, Board, Committees, Teams, and full-time congregation welcome our returning seasonal church family. For all of us, more to hug, reengage with and love. Visitors and newcomers are quick to say how they have felt the warmth and caring of our congregation from their first time with us.

Fellowship time over “calorie free” cookies is valued by all after services, plus all the monthly events Mary Rush, in concert with F3, Blue Zones Project, Worship team and committees provide. Member Spotlights are well attended by generally over 70 of our on-site NCC family and another 10-15 on-line. The Blue Zones Project January 2023 kick-off walk, hosted again by Ken and Corinne Brandle, attracted more than 20 walkers even with an 8:30 cold Saturday morning start. Monthly movie nights regularly attract 20 or so of our NCC family. At press time, over 100 tickets have been sold for our all-church sunset cruise on the Naples Princess, February 2nd. All evidence that NCC has an active, vibrant and growing congregation. Through Pastor Kirt and all things “Church,” we have fun and replenish our minds and souls.

Living in our Naples paradise, everywhere we look we can see God’s gifts in our sunny skies, lapping waves of the Gulf, beautiful migratory birds, stunning sunsets, glorious blossoming flora and more. In Psalm 24:1, we are told, “The Earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, the World and They that dwell therein.” Observing nature can be restorative as it gives us reason to pause, reflect and be thankful to Him. in Psalm 23:3 we are promised “He restoreth my soul.”

While we look forward to sunny days to catch the rays, as disciples of Christ, we have a responsibility to project our own rays of sunshine to those we love and all those we encounter who we may not even know. Shining the light of Jesus in our countenance, communications and interactions offers abundant sunshine to others while we ourselves receive the benefits of feeling healthier, physically, emotionally, and overall, more in tune with our Maker.

In so many ways the Lord speaks to us through His Word about refreshment, replenishment and restoration. David proclaims in Psalm 25:1, “Unto Thee oh Lord, do I lift up my soul.” Strength and peace will be ours through Him.

By the way, Vitamin D, the natural healer, is also great for all of us! Catch those rays!

BLUE ZONES PROJECT: Exercise Snacks

by Kathy Letarte

“I don’t like to exercise,” “I don’t have time,” I’m too old,” “I can’t afford a gym membership or a personal trainer.”

Have you ever said any of these things, but you wanted to get started and just didn’t know how? In the original Blue Zones areas there was no such thing as making time to exercise, and it wasn’t a matter of time or cost. Exercise was part of people’s daily lives…and lots OF exercise. Hiking up and down the mountains to tend to livestock, planting and harvesting by hand, cooking and chopping wood with all hand tools, people simply moved around every 20 minutes, fulfilling the tasks of the day. Today we are moving less than ever, creating more joint ailments, obesity, diabetes, heart issues and lower energy, all resulting in lower self-esteem and less joy in living.

The beauty of exercise “snacks” (small bursts of energy that you can do throughout your day) is that you need no special equipment and there is no cost. Depending on your ability, you can add more movement in your daily life by walking up and down stairs (even only a few stair steps) 3 times a day. When you get up from a chair, sit down and repeat as many times as you can. When you stand at the kitchen counter, stand on one leg and swing the other. Get out in the garden. Whenever you move, do more of it! There are so many options to add more and more exercise “snacks” with free YouTube videos, online classes, and, of course, economical yoga, Pilates, spinning, and gym memberships. Living in a Blue Zone Project area, we are blessed to have so many beautiful places to bike or to walk, for 30 minutes or 3 minutes, and to access whatever type of exercise fits our level and needs.

There is evidence that if we sit less and move more, we live longer. SO LET’S GET STARTED! Stand up, sit down…and do it again, and again. (Then go get some popcorn!)

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT DOUG VAN OORT

Growth through a foundation of Family and Faith

by Chris Pettingill

Having grown up on a dairy farm in upstate NY, Doug learned the value of hard work from childhood. Blessed by both paternal and maternal grandparents who had a strong influence on him, he learned not only the value of work ethic but also the values of family, education, and a belief in God.

His mom was a strong Christian woman. Instrumental in building a church in their rural community, she wanted her son to recognize the importance of God and faith. At about age 12, he accompanied her to an impactful Billy Graham-like revival meeting and he has never lost the sense of how important church has been to him. His grandfather, earliest mentor and owner of the farm where they lived, was deeply religious but never talked about it. The old adage that an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree strikes true as Doug has embraced a similar approach. He also followed his Mom when he joined Karna Bodman, Bill Allyn, David Miller, Rick Scott, and others to help Kirt found Naples Community Church.

Life taught him more lessons. At age 22, he married and started a family, necessitating that he find work.

Having been the first in his family to go to college, he had just graduated from Bentley College and was able to land his first career job with Peat Marwick, now KPMG, in Boston. From there, he continued to grow his family and his career. He joined Corning Glass Works, now Corning Inc., where he had great

mentors in a progressive organizational development company that served him well with a dozen jobs in 14 years. There, as part of a small team, he created a $2 billon life sciences subsidiary that they spun off into two NYSE companies, Quest Diagnostics and Covance. Then, as COO of Quest Diagnostics, he began, at the age of 38, his “quest” to save lives. After four years, having not been chosen as the next CEO, he left and went back to the Corning, NY, area, to focus on his family and to think about the next chapter. He joined the partnership of a private equity firm, founded a venture capital firm, and co-founded a company to own, with his best friend, a chain of hardware companies in Florida.

You guessed it – this move ultimately brought him to Naples, where he served on a non-profit board aiming to attract growth companies to Collier County. During this time, he came to know NeoGenomics, which was a small, struggling company focused on Oncology Diagnostics. Asked to help further, he joined as Chairman & CEO. With a mission to save lives, supported by strong core Values, an employeebased Culture of dedicated employees and a focused strategy, the company’s value grew from about $20 million to $5 billion in 12 years. Most important, the company indeed has saved lives and helped hundreds of thousands people around the world.

Along with his intensive career and his serving on a variety of non-profit boards, he also brought up three sons and a daughter and has returned to NCC after his retirement in 2021. Now Doug is a member of our Board of Trustees.

NCC is blessed to have him featured in our March Member Spotlight event. Please save the date of March 26th to hear his story of finding a greater purpose than self in life. A light lunch will be served before this event in the sanctuary following our church service.

Dustin Herl is now our Church Administrator. You have likely heard from him as he has sent out an end of year thank you letter to all of you who have donated to NCC in 2022. Dustin not only livestreams our services, he handles the office, communications, the church database and directory, digital archives on our church website of our recorded services, Pastor Kirt’s podcasts, member spotlights and all issues of the Gulf Breeze as well as our technology systems and digital marketing and outreach. You have also likely had your photo taken by him for the online church directory. We are blessed to have Dustin, his wife Jesse and their three children as part of our NCC family.

With your generosity, we have sent $5,000 to Grace Place for a Riding Mower, $10,000 to Dan Edmonson’s Orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico, and raised $5,500 for Bikes for Kids. All three were benefactors of our Advent Mission for 2022 led by Lisa Ippolito who brought these needs forward. Thanks to all who contributed to these mission recipients.

Thanks to all of our NCC Member Spotlight Presenters this past year! Included are: Rick and Ann Scott who kicked off the 2022 season; Glenna Hayhoe and her late husband of 70 years, Bruce; Bill, Lew and Dawn Allyn; Mike and Cindy Lyster; Mary and Tom Miller; and Pat and Brenda O’Connor. Wayne and Willi Pederson kicked off the 2023 Member Spotlight season with their event in January.

Thank you to F3 women – F3 2022 Christmas Caroling by Trolley Event cheered NCC members…

There are over 25 of our church family who have participated on our Greeter Team over the past year and many for a longer period. You have seen their smiling faces and likely received some warm hugs welcoming you at the doors of the Sanctuary on Sundays. A huge thank you to all of you who are so important to our congregation and the growth of our NCC family. Bob Cook has been instrumental in starting and leading this team since we reopened after being closed for a short time for COVID in 2020.

Thanks to Ken and Corinne Brandle for hosting the 2023 Kick-off Walk for the Blue Zones Project of SW Florida for which NCC is an approved Participant Member. Thanks to Kathy Letarte for championing the Blue Zones effort for NCC. She is also a regular contributing writer on this topic for the Gulf Breeze.

Huge thanks to Yuliya Vaile, Brian Vaile, Gloria and Bill Dominick, Bill Allyn, Jack Tymann, John Summerfield and many more of our NCC family for adopting, advocating and helping a Ukraine refugee family of four get a solid start in Naples in 2022.

Anticipating Spring

A time for restoring, nurturing and pruning – applicable to nature as well as to our own body, mind and soul. Health and Love, not only on Valentine’s Day, are important personal focal areas for each of us.

by Juliann Thomason

All Things New Beauty Blossom Crocus

Gardens Growth Hopes

Love New Grass Patient

Renewal Showers

Spring Rains

Flowers

Joy Kind

Plant Rejoice

Streams Thaw

*Words can go in any direction. Words can share letters as they cross over each other.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away. Behold, new things have come.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Naples Community Church 849 7th Avenue South Naples, FL 34102

Hug with a Heart

Kirt Anderson Founding Pastor

kirtea@naplescommunitychurch.org

Zen Jordan Administration

office@naplescommunitychurch org

Billy Dean and Dawn Birch Worship

usic@naplescommunitychurch.org

Kirt Anderson Founding Pastor

kirtea@naplescommunitychurch.org

Kirt Anderson Founding Pastor

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Zen Jordan Administration

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Kirt Anderson Founding Pastor

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Kirt Anderson Founding Pastor

office@naplescommunitychurch.org

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kirtea@naplescommunitychurch org

kirtea@naplescommunitychurch org

kirtea@naplescommunitychurch

Zen Jordan Administration

Billy Dean and Dawn Birch Worship

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Zen Jordan Administration

Zen Jordan Administration

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music@naplescommunitychurch.org

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Dustin Herl Administration office@naplescommunitychurch.org

Billy Dean and Dawn B Worship

Billy Dean and Dawn Birch Worship

Billy Dean and Dawn Birch Worship

Billy Dean and Dawn B Worship

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