7 Brew Coffee, a drive-thru coffee stand concept expanding across the country, is opening its first Virginia location in Newport News on Wednesday.

Crews dropped the building from a crane to set up shop at 5018 W. Mercury Blvd. in the Newmarket area on May 25. The business plans to host a Swag Day on Aug. 5 where customers who buy a large drink will get a free 7 Brew T-shirt.

The business serves espresso-based coffees, teas, infused energy drinks, sparkling waters, shakes, smoothies and more. The concept originated in 2017 with a core group of seven coffees.

The Arkansas-based chain, expanding through franchises, has more than 100 locations. Trey Hughes is the owner and managing director for 7 Brew Hampton Roads.

Over two decades ago, a perfect storm overwhelmed my life, and I considered walking away from the Christian faith. I was moving through a life-changing personal crisis and was disappointed with God in ways I could not get over. My crisis amplified a growing discontent I felt with the church.

I lived in a large city in middle Georgia where many neighbors living through homelessness became my friends. I was able to help some navigate an overburdened system to find the resources they needed, but I was in my mid-20s and needed help. I asked leaders in my church for help, only to be told I was doing work that was too risky and dangerous. I can still hear one church elder tell me in a meeting, “You need to stop. You could get stabbed and killed.”

I found more solidarity with people outside of my Christian faith than within it. I just could not understand why there were neighbors living through homelessness standing on the corners of so many streets when there were churches on the corner of almost every street.

In a desperate attempt to question the assumptions I held about God taught by those who formed me in my faith and the judgmental feelings I held about church, I turned to Christian history. I wanted to understand how what I read in the Christian scriptures, particularly in the life of Jesus and a letter called “Acts,” stood in such sharp contrast with what I was experiencing as a follower of Jesus in churches that didn’t seem to, well, act. What I learned saved my faith.

Dear reader, bear with me for a moment.

What I learned is that when famed Roman co-emperors Constantine and Lactantius issued the Edict of Milan (a proclamation that permanently established religious toleration of Christianity among the Greek and Roman religions), Christianity became a tool to establish the Roman concept of civilized order. Roman religion supported identities of dominance and superiority based upon gender and class (aristocracy). For 200 years prior, Christianity had proven to be a religion that challenged identities of dominance and long embraced a politic — meaning an ordered and governed way of life — that compelled followers of Jesus to work toward an ethic where all in the empire were welcomed and included, regardless of gender and class. This was particularly compelling for Emperor Lactantius. He wrote about how Christianity’s commitment to welcome and inclusion can be used to bring unity and order to Roman civilization. Of course, soon after that Lactantius began a low-key persecution of Christians despite the edict before his co-emperor Constantine overthrew him.

What neither Constantine or Lactantius seemed to imagine is that Christianity’s politic of welcome and inclusion didn’t challenge identities of dominance and superiority just within Rome, but throughout all of humanity everywhere.

They didn’t understand that the most basic teaching of the Christian faith, according to the life of Jesus and story found in “Acts,” is that no empire, nationality or specific ethnicity could be held as superior to another, if it wanted to remain a faithful expression of the Christ of Christianity. The first two centuries of Christianity consistently struggled and wrestled within itself in an effort to be faithful to the Christ’s law of love. Therefore, Christianity was not going to easily become the tool of any social or political system. Christianity already has a social and political system complete with its own “edict” issued by the one called the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth who is confessed as King and Lord.

The tragic outcome history reveals is that many became adherents to Lactantius and Constantine’s Roman-centric Christianity — that is to say a religion called Christianity married to and organized around the Roman empire’s political ideals and aspirations. These adherents laid down the law of love and picked up the laws of Rome. After Constantine’s death, these adherents, still referring to themselves as Christians, held onto this coercive expression of faith that empowered them to forcibly convert others or inflict violence upon them if they refused. Christianity became a religion of conquest and was re-planted in the soil that nurtured identities of dominance and superiority.

This history makes me think of how today’s American politicians and some of us everyday folk want to use Christianity as a tool for “uniting our nation” much like Constantine and Lactantius. But true Christianity will not be the USA’s religion or some mechanism for establishing American ideology or democracy. True Christianity stands on its own as a different politic governed by a law of love — self-giving and self-emptying love like the Christ. And that becomes the power that challenges all identities of dominance and superiority, whether it be gender-based, class-based, ethnic-based, race-based or nationality-based. And one day when the United States of America follows the way of Rome and becomes a footnote in the pages of history, varied expressions of true Christianity will still stand.

As I see it, and as a pastor in the Christian tradition, the task for us today is to know true Christianity from false Christianity. Historical sketches like this can help Christians know the difference.

The Rev. Fred Liggin is one of the pastors at Williamsburg Christian Church, and founder and co-executive director of Faith Community Development & Training with 3e Restoration Inc.

Getting shot as a teacher should never be considered a “workplace injury.” When the news reported that our homeowner’s association’s law firm of Pender & Coward made that assertion about the Richneck Elementary school shooting regarding a lawsuit filed by the teacher who was shot, I knew something was very wrong. As a former fighter pilot, 27-year airline captain and safety expert, I can say definitively that the risk of death on the job is universally considered unacceptable. Even in high-risk environments, the greatest efforts are taken to mitigate tragedy, and first grade is no carrier flight deck.

As president of my HOA, I also knew that community trust and safety go hand in hand. Mailbox upkeep and moldy sidings can be a concern but having someone’s daughter shot as a schoolteacher makes everything else irrelevant.

We know how to manage risk. We have nuclear power plants, open heart surgeries and millions fly every day without anyone thinking twice. None of these activities are without danger, but we live comfortably in our 21st century because there is a great effort to continuously make, monitor and keep the public safe. To say there is a trove of documentation, regulation and studies in this field would be a gross understatement.

The one lesson written in blood is that you can’t sit on your hands and wait for bad things to happen. You must work hard at being proactive, gathering data and working on effective communications. I’ll bet you didn’t know that twice a year all the airlines in the United States have a private four-day conference to share each other’s safety data and accident lessons. The FAA states that they are responsible for providing you (the passenger) the highest level of safety above mere compliance. If they aren’t worried about tomorrow, they aren’t doing their jobs.

Our school rooms should be as safe as our airplanes. If you know a kid has problems, at the very least you should ask their parent if they keep guns at home and, if so, how they are secured. This is risk identification at its most basic. If there is any indication a student might have a gun, as apparently was the case, reporting and action should be swift and decisive. Guns, fuel leaks, radiation — risk is risk. They should all be treated the same and the responsibility for doing so rests entirely with management.

So how should someone legally defend the school in this case? NASA studies have shown that people are bad at dealing with things that happen very infrequently. We have cognitive biases, gaps in perception, and judgment can be clouded by conflicting priorities. There were plenty of clues that the Space Shuttle Challenger was going to explode, but even NASA became blind to them all.

Modern safety science accounts for this and I have no doubt our culture of guns, state educational guidance and legal pressures put the Richneck School behind the power curve. A competent legal defense could highlight systemic failures and in the end point to better mitigations. I can point to at least three safety systems in my own cockpit that were the result of lawsuits that did exactly that.

If we are going to work for a better tomorrow, we need to start holding more people accountable, and that includes lawyers. When the legal profession breaks our trust by appearing to carelessly ignore what makes us safe, we need to send them a strong message, just as our HOA board members did.

We don’t have to live like this — not the teachers, not the schools.

John Gadzinski is president of the Christopher Farms Homeowners Association in Virginia Beach. He is a senior airline captain, former Navy fighter pilot, safety expert and fellow in the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Ryan McKenna belted a grand slam in the fifth inning of doubleheader Game 2, sparking the Norfolk Tides to a 6-3 victory over Gwinnett and a split of Saturday night’s two games against the Stripers before 5,216 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

GRAND SALAMI TIME! Ryan McKenna clears the bases with one swing and the Tides are back out in front!#RisingTide pic.twitter.com/rW4lkh7gkI

— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) July 23, 2023

The Stripers won 2-1 in Game 1 on Luke Williams’ walk-off, tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning.

The International League first-half champion Tides are 60-33, 12-7 in the second half. Gwinnett is 41-53, 8-11.

In Game 2, winner Chayce McDermott (1-0) had an intriguing, effective outing. The 24-year-old right-hander from Ball State struck out nine and gave up just one hit in five innings of his second Triple-A appearance and first victory, though he walked six. Ryan Watson pitched the last two innings, giving up two hits — including Hoy Park’s solo homer — but striking out three.

McDermott was promoted July 14 from Double-A Bowie. He came to the Baltimore organization in the deadline deal last season that sent Trey Mancini to Houston.

Norfolk went ahead 2-0 in the second inning on home runs by Joey Ortiz and Kyle Stowers off Nolan Kingham. Gwinnett pulled even at 2 in the fourth when Hoy Park singled home Jesus Aguilar and Joe Dunand, who both had walked.

In the decisive fifth, Stowers led off by lacing a double to right. One out later, Lewin Diaz and Robbie Glendinning walked, loading the bases. McKenna then launched a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left field for a 6-2 lead.

The Tides lost Game 1 on a home run by a man known more for speed than power. Luke Williams hit his third homer of the Triple-A season to end the contest.

Williams’ drive off Joey Krehbiel barely cleared the yellow line on the fence in left field.

In a pitching duel between left-handed starters Nick Margevicius of Gwinnett and Bruce Zimmermann, the Tides went ahead in the second inning. Cesar Prieto bunted for a one-out single and went to third when Stowers doubled on a ball Williams appeared to lose in the sun in left field. Daz Cameron then hit a sacrifice fly to center.

The Tides score first on a @daz_cameron16 sac fly!

M2 | Norfolk 1, Gwinnett 0#RisingTide pic.twitter.com/zvlymlA5dw

— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) July 22, 2023

The Stripers pulled even in the third. Yolmer Sanchez led off with a double and scored when Tides second baseman Ortiz committed a throwing error on Magneuris Sierra’s grounder.

Both starters lasted five innings, and Zimmermann struck out six, walked three and gave up three hits.

In the seventh, Stripers reliever Jackson Stephens — just activated off the injured list after posting a 3.69 ERA in 39 appearances last year for Atlanta — struck out Diaz to strand runners at second and third in the seventh.

After Krehbiel retired Dalton Guthrie on a fly to right, Williams — who has stolen 23 Triple-A bases this season with Dodgers affiliate Oklahoma City and the Stripers — ended the game with his blast on a 2-2 pitch.

The series is scheduled to finish with a 6:05 game Sunday night. The Tides are 3-2 in the series so far.

Brenden Queen is the king of Langley Speedway again, at least for a night.

Queen, the Late Model champion at Langley Speedway the past three seasons, defeated Connor Hall at the track for the first time in 2023 Saturday in winning the 15th annual Hampton Heat 200. Queen joins three-time winner C.E. Falk as only the second driver to win the Heat more than once.

In doing so, the Chesapeake driver broke an 11-race victory streak this season by Hall, who has won 10 consecutive Langley 50-lap Late Models. Hall also beat Queen in June in the CARS Tour race, arguably the second-biggest race at the track after the Heat.

But, for once in 2023, Queen had the better machine. Taking advantage of an unexpected 59-lap green-flag run to finish the 200-lapper, Queen passed Bobby McCarty for the lead on on lap 148.

Hall passed McCarty for second place a lap later and moved up to the bumper of Queen. But Queen, driving a Lee Pulliam Performance Toyota, fought back a couple of pass attempts, assumed complete control by lap 170 and won by almost 9/10ths-of-a second.

“It’s funny how the world works (because) this is the car I knocked out of the way to win (the Hampton Heat) in 2020,” said Queen, who nudged Pulliam driver Corey Heim out of the way to win that race. “To come back and drive it for Lee and get the win he was close to getting that year is a story you can’t make up.”

Pulliam said, “All week Brenden has been telling me, ‘I owe you a Hampton Heat and I’m going to win it for you.’ “

McCarty, who won the Heat in 2017, finished third, with Brandon Pierce fourth and Sam Yarbrough fifth, followed by Nick Smith. McCarty won the pole, but other than showing his speed, it didn’t mean much.

Because drivers were required (barring a flat) to finish on the tires they started with, McCarty — like all of the top contenders — rode the first 100 laps to save his tires for the second 100. Lap times, even among the leaders, were routinely more than two seconds slower than their qualifying laps.

Nick Smith, who won the inaugural Heat in 2008, was an exception to the coasting as he led the final 77 laps to the halfway point. Fellow Langley Speedway veterans Matt Waltz, Woody Howard (the 2009 winner) and Casey Wyatt were in the 2-3-4 spots at the break.

The favorites were close behind, with McCarty fifth, Carson Kvapil seventh, Hall ninth, Queen 10th and Greg Edwards 13th. Kvapil made the most impressive move, from his 21st starting position, but faded to a 12th-place finish after developing power-steering problems early in the second 100 laps.

Waltz moved quickly into the lead to start the second half, but McCarty, then Queen and then Hall soon displayed their superiority. Hall said his car got too loose and did not have the right motor package to carry him to a second Heat victory.

“We’ll just put this one in the notebook and go after ’em next time,” Hall said.

Other races

Tyler Hughes won the Legends 25 for his first victory of the season as Cody Carlton finished second and division points leader Tommy Jackson was third.

Landon Abbott’s victory in the Super Street 40 was his third of the season, a total that ties him with Sammy Gaita, who finished second to move into the division points lead. Jimmy Adkins, previous points leader Gordon Weeks and Danny Harrell rounded out the top five.

Hayden Sheldon won the UCAR 25, his third victory of the season, to remain on top of the division points standings. Christian Keller was second and Charlie Bryant, second to Sheldon in the points, was third.

Saturday’s leaders in Hampton (car numbers in parentheses).

Late Model-Hampton Heat 200: (30 starters); 1. (03) Brenden Queen; 2. (77) Connor Hall; 3. (6) Bobby McCarty; 4. (2p) Brandon Pierce; 5. (95) Sam Yarbrough.

Legends 25: (16 starters); 1. (8h) Tyler Hughes; 2. (11) Cody Carlton; 3. (87) Tommy Jackson; 4. (4) Alek Andrecs; 5. (17) Devon Courtney.

Super Street 40: (17 starters); 1. (70) Landon Abbott; 2. (21) Sammy Gaita; 3. (71) Jimmy Adkins; 4. (20) Gordon Weeks III; 5. (95) Danny Harrell.

UCAR 25: (10 starters); 1. (13) Hayden Sheldon; 2. (6) Christian Keller; 3. (88) Charlie Bryant; 4. (36) Tyler Borden; 5. (99) Crystal West.

Among the inevitable offseason moves on the area coaching carousel, one stood out.

Hampton Roads Academy, located in Newport News, recently named former Virginia Wesleyan men’s coach and player Chris Mills as its new boys soccer coach and assistant athletic director.

Mills, who lives in Chesapeake and whose young daughter attends HRA, guided the Marlins to a 12-4-4 overall record, 6-1-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, last season. He was a three-year All-ODAC player and was the ODAC Coach of the Year in 2013, when he directed VWU to the conference championship.

At VWU, Mills’ three-year assistant, Stefan Kohler, took over as the head coach.

Simpson gains Penn State post: Kristen Simpson, a 2004 Norfolk Collegiate graduate, recently was named Penn State’s women’s golf coach.

Simpson has spent time as an assistant coach at Old Dominion (2011-14) and Maryland (2014-18), served as the associate head coach at North Carolina (2018-21) and was most recently the assistant coach at Wisconsin since July 2021.

Simpson played for Virginia, where she graduated with an economics degree in 2008, and was a team captain in her final two seasons.

Near misses: Patrick Gareiss of Chesapeake and Brandon Sipe of Yorktown, a homeschooled rising ninth-grader, were among the players who barely missed the cut to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg.

Gareiss, from Hickory High and Radford University, shot 70-64 for an 8-under-par 134, tying for fifth in a 36-hole qualifier in which only the top three advanced among 72 players who completed at least a round. Sipe (69-67) was at 136, sharing 10th place.

Ryan Leach (142), Robb Kinder (146) and Parker Wingfield (147) were among other familiar local names in the field.

VPCC pitcher named All-American: T.J. McDonough, a relief pitcher for Virginia Peninsula Community College, was named an NJCAA Division 3 first-team All-American by The JBB, which bills itself as the “official home for junior-college baseball.”

In 30 innings, he earned two wins and two saves while posting a 3.97 ERA. He faced 144 batters, giving up 37 hits and striking out 25. He graduated with an associate degree in business and will go to Division III Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, where he also will play baseball.

Crabbers rule Heritage league: The Hampton High boys won the Heritage summer-league basketball championship in Newport News, defeating Norcom 45-29 in the final. Jamarie Lumpkin’s 13 points and Gavin Kay’s 11 led the Crabbers.

In the semifinals, Hampton beat Indian River and Norcom ousted Nansemond River.

Walsingham hires Graves: Walsingham Academy recently named Brian Graves as its boys basketball coach. The former Heritage High and Catawba point guard, who played pro ball in Germany, has been on the coaching staffs of Longwood, North Carolina Central, Western Carolina and Hampton University.

Poquoson star in international event: Longtime Poquoson player Sandi Benites was invited to represent the United States in the Gordon Trophy. The annual tennis competition between age 45-and-over players from the United States and Canada, which began in 1949, is being held this weekend at Cleveland Racquet Club in Ohio.

Matches are held in 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s, 65s, 70s, 80s and 85s. Benites is eligible for the 85s.

Ex-Monarch climbs rankings: Former Old Dominion star Holly Hutchinson, who grew up in London, reached a career-high Women’s Tennis Association doubles ranking of 475th after teaming with Madeleine Brooks.

They won three matches, including a quarterfinal against the top seeds, at a $25,000 minor-league hard-court event in Roehampton, England, before falling in the championship match.

Tennis battle of the ages:

On July 10 at Salisbury Country Club in Midlothian, far away from the featured courts, a Mid-Atlantic Open Clay Court Championships women’s first-round match had just a few onlookers.

But it highlighted two players with Hampton Roads connections and interesting stories.

German native Laima Frosch should head to Virginia Tech in about a month to play tennis for the Hokies. At 15, she’s academically gifted and will be one of the nation’s youngest college tennis players. She attended Bayside High but did not play on its tennis team, sticking to U.S. Tennis Association-sanctioned events. She even won a coveted gold ball — awarded for first place in USTA national events — in the girls 14-and-under bracket at the 2022 Winter Nationals.

Her family moved from Kiel, in northern Germany, to Virginia Beach because her father, Andreas, represents Germany at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Norfolk. Her mom, Jurgita, was at the match cheering for her daughter and said the family soon will move back to Germany.

Frosch has trained with Ryan Davidson, a former Hokie himself, at Virginia Beach Tennis & Country Club and has lots of shotmaking variety and competitive fire. If she can grow physically and in terms of maturity, she could help the Hokies (10-14, 1-12 Atlantic Coast Conference last season). Perhaps she even could compete for a starting spot in the lineup’s lower end.

Her opponent was at the other end of the spectrum: 50-year-old Allison White, a former candidate for city council and treasurer in Virginia Beach. A former VHSL state boys tennis champion (then known as Sean White) for Cox who played as high as No. 1 in college for James Madison, began teaching at King’s Fork High in Suffolk when it opened in 2004. Government and history are subjects she has taught in the International Baccalaureate program.

She told colleagues and administrators of her transgender status in 2017 and said they’ve been supportive.The contest against Frosch was one of White’s few USTA-sanctioned matches since becoming female, though she had an excellent season in a recently completed 4.5 team league. Frosch controlled most of the rallies with power and placement, prompting White to frequently hit drop shots and to try to follow them with lobs.

As one might expect in a match where the players had a 35-year age difference, youth prevailed. Frosch won the first 11 games before White took the next two. Frosch then closed a 6-0, 6-2 victory.

White said she didn’t used to play with so much touch in lieu of power, but female hormones in the transition “just destroy that masculine strength.”

She said she has gotten frustrated with a perception that transgender athletes dominate women’s sports. (Lia Thomas’ college swimming career with Penn perhaps fueled some of that.)

White was proud to avoid a shutout in the second set. “You know I’ll fight” in competition, she said.

Ironically for someone who never played VHSL tennis, Frosch then got to play two-time Class 6 singles champion Simone Bergeron in the second round.

In a long, competitive match that had contentious moments about line calls and ball marks on the clay court, Frosch fell 7-5, 6-4 to Bergeron, who played for James Madison High in Vienna and soon will compete for Elon. The loss highlighted Frosch’s need for maturity as she heads to the Hokies.

Norfolk’s Keyshawn Davis kept his boxing career on its upward trajectory Saturday night, defeating Francesco Patera of Belgium in a 10-round lightweight bout at sold-out FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Patera (28-4, 10 knockouts) never had been knocked down as a pro until Davis (9-0 with six KOs) floored him in the eighth round with a right hand. He won the fight by margins of 100-89 and 100-90 on the judges’ cards, meaning they perceived him as the winner of each round.

Keyshawn Davis drops Francesco Patera with a straight right counter in RD8 🎯 #DavisPatera | #KambososHughespic.twitter.com/Onq4ZgpaRj

— RINGOFHIGHLIGHTS (@ringofhighlight) July 23, 2023

Davis, a Granby High graduate, was a huge favorite. According to the Bovada sportsbook Saturday afternoon, it would have taken a $33 beat to win $1 with a Davis victory.

Davis, 24, represented his city with his attire, wearing a black belt with white “NORFOLK” lettering, with white and red shorts.

He dominated the 30-year-old former European lightweight champ and remained the U.S., World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization intercontinental lightweight champion, though his goals are far higher.

Some of his fans gathered in Portsmouth for a watch party, a snippet of which was shown on the ESPN broadcast just before the judges’ scores were announced. On the broadcast, play-by-play man Joe Tessitore said Davis connected on 162 punches to Patera’s 61.

Interviewed in the ring after his victory, Davis thanked God.

“He brought me here in fantastic shape. My stomach ain’t feel the best, but I got through it,” he said.

Davis gave himself a “C-plus, B-minus” for the performance, but “we got the win and that’s all the matters. I can’t be too hard on myself for not stopping these guys because they got way more experience than me. I’m beating these guys every round, sticking to my game plan, listening to my coaches, and having a lot of fun in here.”

Davis continued in the ring, “It was a helluva performance, the people here love me, my fans at home love me. The Businessman got a long career, and we here to stay, baby.”

Patera hadn’t lost in his last 10 fights since 2017.

Davis, the silver medalist in the 2019 world championships the and Olympics two years ago, was the co-feature on a Top Rank card capped by a lightweight bout of Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. against Great Britain’s Maxi Hughes.

GOLF

Shingler leads State Open entering final round

Haymarket’s Scott Shingler shot a 3-under-par 68 for an 8-under 134 to maintain the lead at the State Open of Virginia at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian.

A mid-amateur in his early 50s, Shingler led Justin LaRue of Longwood University and Mehrbaan Singh, a Virginia Tech golfer from Ashburn, by one stroke entering Sunday’s final round. LaRue grew up in Chesterfield County, not far from the course.

Brandon Sipe, a homeschooled rising ninth-grader from Yorktown, fired his second consecutive 70 to easily make the cut. Gloucester High graduate Josh Speight (72-68) from The Club at Viniterra, who played in this year’s PGA Championship, joined him at 140.

Patrick Gareiss (141) of Chesapeake and former Christopher Newport star Robb Kinder (144) also made the cut.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCER

UVA adds former UCLA defender

Virginia added transfer defender Kathryn Kelly to the roster. She went through a redshirt season at UCLA last year.

Kelly was rated the No. 7 overall recruit on the IMG Top 150 after completing her high school career at Carlmont High in Belmont, California. The Cavaliers will start their season at home Aug. 17 against Nevada.