Home Care In Arden, NC

ARDEN, N.C. (FOX Carolina) - A ribbon cutting, cheering and gaming made for a busy Saturday in Arden as co-owners Cheryl and Mark Chambers opened up a new eSports space for their Blue Ridge Bears teams.

What started as Mark making an eSports Google search six months ago has turned into an 18-computer space with a dozen gamers signed up.

“It’s just a dream of me and my dad’s, and our family,” their 12-year-old son Andrew Chambers said. “We (his family) played a lot of video games and did a lot of things, and it was cool to realize all of us liked the same thing. Mom wasn’t the best, but she always loved playing with us and making us happy.”

Even though Mom might not be the best at gaming, she understands the impact it can have. In a “counterintuitive way,” she said she saw this as a way to help parents control their kids’ screen time. That’s because before one hour turns into half the day, they’ve decided their practices and matches will be limited to one hour apiece.

“The business helps us put boundaries around our kids and other kids,” Cheryl Chambers said. “It’s like putting a fence around the video gaming playground.”

The Chambers’ virtual playground welcomes kids between 7-17 years old and has three different membership plans depending on how many gaming sessions you want per week.

Cheryl said gaming in a group setting like theirs is much more social than gaming alone at home. She also said that as an XP League franchise, they adhere to a life-lesson-driven code of conduct.

“Teaching lessons using the video games,” Cheryl said. “Using encouraging words and only lifting each other up. How to manage your emotions when you get disappointed and frustrated that you lost or that this bad thing happened.”

Andrew said he’s been learning from the gaming aspect and the work he personally put into getting his parents’ space prepared for day one.

“Me and my dad were in here at night just setting up the computers,” Andrew said. “I was the one who put the mouse and keyboard out, unboxed everything and put the headset stands up and headsets. It was cool to see, not only my family, but my friends and everyone coming together to help us set up and get ready. Hard work pays off, and if you work hard, it’ll pay out in the end.”

The Chambers have also brought in coaches to provide instruction for the game itself and how to handle any ups and downs that stem from it.

Andrew said you can join Blue Ridge Bears teams for the games Fortnite, Apex Legends, Rocket League, Valorant and Minecraft. Cheryl said they’re offering gaming session times on weeknights and Saturdays.

“What’s happening here on a Monday evening would probably feel a little bit more like baseball practice,” Cheryl said. “Like a rec league but for video games instead of soccer.”

As far as future plans, Andrew hopes to host tournaments eventually, and Cheryl wants to get involved with the local districts’ after-school programs.

Just before her family cut the ribbon to let the gaming begin, she explained what this day meant for her.

“It’s a really exciting day,” Cheryl said. “In some ways, it feels like the culmination of all this preparation leads to this day, but also this day launches us from here forward.”

Copyright 2023 WHNS. All rights reserved.

ARDEN, N.C. (WLOS) — North Carolina Administrative Law Judge David Sutton in an 88-page decision ruled Mission Hospital should not be able to build an ER in Arden because a state-required public hearing to gauge interest wasn't held.

Judge puts brakes on Mission Hospital's plans for free-standing ER in Arden

In an earlier decision, Sutton also ruled Mission shouldn’t be allowed to open a similar facility in Candler for the same reason.

“AdventHealth is very pleased with the administrative judge’s decision regarding this case,” AdventHealth spokesperson Victoria Dunkle said.

MISSION HOSPITAL WANTS TO BUILD $29 MILLION EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY

AdventHealth and Pardee Hospital had filed an appeal of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' decision to grant Mission Hospital's Certificate of Need application for a freestanding emergency department in Arden. Sutton stated, “Mission’s application is reversed" because Mission “failed to use proper procedure.” He wrote NCDHHS officials “acted erroneously” by approving Mission’s application for Arden.

“While we were disappointed by the setback of these rulings, we know that more access to emergency care is important for our region, and we will continue to seek opportunities to provide it,” HCA Healthcare spokesperson Nancy Lindell said.

But AdventHealth officials believe Mission's desire for an ER in the area is about more than that.

“This application for a free-standing ER isn’t really about access or choice, it really was about maintaining market share,” Dunkle said. “It would be a landing point to start the care with the existing health system in place in Buncombe County. If it’s something more serious, it’s going to be transferred to the main hospital ER they have.”

MISSION HEALTH AND ADVENTHEALTH CLASH OVER EMERGENCY CARE FACILITY LOCATION

But Lindell argued there’s demand in area communities for these types of emergency rooms.

“By taking a patient to a closer, less busy ER, EMS teams are able to get back out on the road faster and serve more patients,” Lindell said.

Health Equity Coalition of Western North Carolina spokesperson Victoria Hicks said she wondered how much of the situation was of Mission’s own making.

“As someone who just spent 36 hours in the Mission, basically just waiting for a room, I can see that there’s a problem. They had patients stacked up around the nurses' station, they had patients in the corridors," Hicks said.

MISSION HOSPITAL LOOKS FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR FREESTANDING ER IN CANDLER

Hicks said NCDHHS officials should be focused on investigating those problems before green-lighting any new brick-and-mortar urgent care or ER-type sites for Mission/HCA.

“For anyone who lives in a rural area like Mitchell County, what we’ve seen is the hollowing out of our hospital. People would come to the ER at Blue Ridge, be admitted and Blue Ridge would have the services they needed. What’s now happening is you come into a rural hospital and you’re shipped to Mission’s ER. For HCA to say that what they’re trying to do is distribute the care more equitably in their service area rings hollow,” Hicks said.

ADVENTHEALTH, MISSION HEALTH JOCKEY OVER EMERGENCY CARE IN WESTERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY

Lindell said the state was responsible for holding the public hearing and chose not to due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lindell said Mission is exploring its options after the judge’s latest ruling about a lack of public hearings.

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ARDEN, N.C. (WLOS) — A new brewpub is coming to “Beer City,” and it's making its home in south Asheville.

Voodoo Brewing Company is opening up a brewpub in the old 12 Bones location on Sweeten Creek Road.

The company is based out of Pennsylvania, which is where Ohio native Bill Osborne first drank Voodoo beers.

South Asheville’s newest brewpub, Voodoo Brewing Company, aims for mid-October opening

Osborne has lived in Asheville since 2004 and said he knew the south part of town would be a great location.

SC RESTAURANT TO OPEN 2 NEW LOCATIONS IN BILTMORE PARK, FORMER ZIA TAQUERIA LOCATION

“That’s why we settled on this location in south Asheville," Osborne told News 13 on Thursday, Sept. 14. "While we have some good breweries in the area, it’s not as saturated as it is in South Slope, downtown Asheville. So, bringing a little bit more to the south and thinking with the style of beer and type of beer and the quality that it’s going to work."

The south Asheville location is a tap room, meaning they wont be brewing beer on site.

The beer will be shipped in from their main brewery in Pennsylvania.

They will have a kitchen on site, which Osborne said will be one of their advantages in Asheville’s competitive beer scene.

Another advantage, he said, is the type of beer -- "the whole gamut" -- they’ll be pouring.

“A lot of heavier beers, like the stouts, the porters, some Belgians and IPAs. And the lighter style as well, so the whole gamut of all the different beers,” Osborne said.

The new bar just recently built will be a staple of the brewpub's layout.

They will be modeling their brewpub after European beer halls, marked by large community tables made from wooden pallets.

“It’s not a sports bar," Osborne said. "We’re going to be looking for interaction. We’re going to have games, we’re going to have the tables. We’re not going to have a bunch of TVs."

Barringer construction is working on the location.

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Osborne said they're aiming for an opening date in mid-October.

Almost 300 people were baptized Sunday at morning worship services and at a planned outdoor event hosted by one Arden, North Carolina church.

The Biltmore Church, a Baptist megachurch with seven campuses across the Tar Heel State, hosted an outdoor lake baptism event that had hundreds of people responding to the gospel call.

The church told CBN News in an email there were three people baptized during the church's Sunday morning services in addition to the 279 at the Outdoor Baptism for a total of 282 baptisms.

"Outdoor Baptism is something we do annually and we have been announcing it for about six weeks to our congregation. While we were amazed by the number of those who were baptized we know that God has the power to do incredible things," the church said.

Lead Pastor Bruce Frank posted the results of both morning services and the outdoor baptism event.

"Awesome day as we saw 282 people profess faith in Christ thru baptism @biltmore! #wnc #baptism #solideogloria," Frank wrote.

Awesome day as we saw 282 people profess faith in Christ thru baptism @biltmore ! #wnc #baptism #solideogloria pic.twitter.com/OJnCbmGZFO

— Bruce Frank (@BruceFrank1) September 17, 2023

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A post shared by Biltmore Church (@biltmorechurch)

"Seeing 279 people profess Jesus as Lord through our annual Outdoor Baptism was incredible! I’m always amazed as I hear all of the stories of God at work in each person’s life," Pastor Frank told CBN News in a statement. "Baptism is a great step for a Christ-follower, and our staff is excited to continue to guide each person as they continue their discipleship journey."

Baptist 'Membership' Falls, but Baptisms Are Up

The Biltmore Church is affiliated with the Nashville, Tennessee-based Southern Baptist Convention.

As CBN News reported last May, an Annual Church Profile report shows the total membership of the Southern Baptist Convention has fallen to its lowest number since the late 1970s.

Lifeway Research, which conducted the church profile with the cooperation of Baptist state conventions, reports the current total membership of Southern Baptist congregations is 13,223,122, which is down from 13,680,493 in 2021.

That's the SBC's largest single-year numerical drop in more than 100 years. "Much of the downward movement we are seeing in membership reflects people who stopped participating in an individual congregation years ago and the record keeping is finally catching up," said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.

But while memberships are dropping, baptisms are soaring. The annual SBC profile revealed that, for the second year in a row, baptisms and giving increased among Southern Baptist congregations. In-person worship service and small group attendance also rebounded.

AUGUST: TN MegaChurch Experiences 'Genuine Move of God' as 136 Get Spontaneously Baptized

Following the pandemic, SBC congregations saw the return of new in-person worshippers. More than 3.8 million individuals attended a Southern Baptist congregation on an average weekend in 2022, a 5% increase over the 3.6 million who did so in 2021, Lifeway reported.

As more people gathered in person, they witnessed more baptisms. In 2022, Southern Baptist congregations baptized 180,177 people, a 16% increase over 2021, the profile said.

Reports of People Giving Their Lives to Jesus Christ Continue

Meanwhile, baptisms of college students are on the rise at two different universities.

As CBN News reported last week, a Texas youth pastor says an outpouring of revival is taking place among college students at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and it shows "no signs of slowing down" as hundreds have already given their lives to Jesus and others are getting water baptized almost daily.

Tarik Whitmore, the young adult pastor at New Life Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, told CBN News he is seeing a movement among college students who are getting saved and then boldly proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ with the student body.

The result is a campus being transformed for Jesus – and it is happening quickly.

Whitmore says for that entire spring semester he was opening the church late at night to baptize students. "I'm just the guy with the keys at that point," he shared jokingly.

The Texas A&M Corpus Christi alum says for more than a year, students have been coming, almost weekly, to get baptized.

Students at Auburn University located in Auburn, Alabama, are testifying that God also moved at an event last week that still has them "speechless and in awe."

As CBN News reported, thousands of students at the secular university packed out Neville Arena on Sept. 12 to worship and praise Jesus, but an impromptu baptism that started with one student wanting to be baptized grew to roughly 200 people who decided to give their lives to Christ.

"I've seen Auburn basketball beat Kentucky. I've seen Auburn football beat Alabama, but I have never seen something like I did Tuesday night," Auburn University senior Michael Floyd told WFSA-TV.

More than 5,000 people showed up to Unite Auburn's "Night of Worship". The campus ministry's outreach was created to bring the Alabama school's Christian community together for a night of worship. It featured guest speakers New York Times Best Selling Author Jennie Allen and Pastor Jonathan Pokluda, and worship was led by Passion Music.

Allen shared on Instagram that toward the end of the night, she felt led to ask students if they wanted to be baptized, and dozens raised their hands.

There wasn't a tub available to baptize the students, so thousands of people headed over to a lake at Auburn's Red Barn.

"They circled the lake and 6-10 of us were in the water baptizing hundreds," Allen described.

Even Auburn's head football coach Hugh Freeze got in the water to help, according to WSFA.

"People surrounded the lake 'til almost midnight hearing the stories of life change and shouting and cheering and praying together. God is moving and He isn't stopping," Allen said.

Jeremy Napier, the chaplain for the Auburn men's basketball team, told The Gazette, "It was not planned at all. I think this was a spontaneous decision at the very end where we just said, 'Let's go for it.'"

Auburn student and journalist, Kristen Carr, witnessed what happened and told WFSA-TV it was something she had never seen before.

"Never in my life," she expressed. "I was even talking to adults who were there and they said they had never witnessed anything like that."

"God is doing something on Auburn's campus," Allen told The Observer. "This was a part of a bigger story that's happening here."

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BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Tyler Brouse grips the steering wheel and hears a calm voice behind him. “Runway heading to two-thousand, seven hundred,” calls out Les Thornbury, playing the role of Air Traffic Controller.

Brouse, a sophomore at Arden’s Christ School, is at the helm of the school’s FAA-approved flight simulator, one phase of the school’s aviation program for students to earn a pilot’s license. “Using the simulator, we practice flying in emergency scenarios and situations. For example, I‘m learning to fly in the clouds.” Brouse is one of ten student pilots at Christ School, which offered the curriculum this year as an after-school winter sport. Next school year, the class will be offered for academic credit as a science elective.

Thornbury, a Spanish teacher and a retired Navy pilot, is Director of Christ School’s Robert Morgan ’36 Aviation Program. Morgan graduated from the school in 1936 and went on to pilot the famed “Memphis Belle,” a B-17 bomber which completed 25 missions over Europe in World War II.

'THIS IS THEIR HOME' TRAIL CAMERAS OFFER UP SNEAK PEAK INTO RARELY SEEN WILDLIFE BEHAVIOR

Aviation program for high schoolers is 1 of 3 like it in the country

The simulator has three 65-inch monitors and is stationed in a small room adjacent to Thornbury’s Spanish classroom. “Gentle ... gentle,” coaches Chief Flight Instructor and Christ School parent Steve Hoffert, as he leads sophomore Tucker Semans in an instrument-only journey through thick clouds on the simulator.

“They really get their hands going in here, their reps,” says Hoffert of the simulator, a gift purchased by an alumnus and two families of the students. “When I get them in the actual airplane, they’re ready to go and learn the next thing.”

The front seat of the actual airplane, an American Champion Citabria, is a tight squeeze for Brouse, an offensive lineman on the Greenies football team. Hoffert, a retired Air Force pilot, is strapped in behind him.

“Throttle open half-inch,” announces Brouse as he goes through a pre-flight checklist. “Safety is a huge priority for the program and you know it’s job number one always,” says Hoffert. “But especially when you’re flying with youth, you want to take your time and make sure you do it right.”

The goal of the semester-long program is for each student to finish the coursework to complete the FAA’s ground school, in preparation for the agency’s written exam. An after-school program is designed to give them the flight time for their solo, and eventually pilot’s license.

“Prop clear!” calls out Brouse as he starts the engine, continues through more items on the checklist, then taxis along a grass runway at the Hendersonville Airport.

“It goes from being the most stressful thing in a day, all the way to the most relaxing thing that you do in a day,” explains Brouse.

4TH-GENERATION TEXTILE ARTIST PASSES ON HER KNOWLEDGE AT COWEE TEXTILES

After the stress of a successful take-off, Brouse is able to take a few deep breaths and enjoy the aerial views. “Flying this aircraft around 6,000 feet, cruising out there –it’s a very relaxing, yet demanding experience.”

While the ground school and simulator coursework is free for enrolled students, the cost for the flight hours is $4,500. “It’s an investment--an investment in the student’s future,” says Thornbury, who plans to also be a Certified Flight Instructor after classes this summer.

Thornbury explains that Christ School is one of only three high schools in the U.S., and the only one in North Carolina to offer the coursework, which he says translates into both academic and personal growth.

“Flying an aircraft demands a focus that’s hard to attain with just about any other thing that they’re doing. It’s really exciting to see them change from the inside out. Yes, they’re learning things about aviation, but I think they’re learning things that you can’t learn in a classroom.”

Hoffert adds that “the growth of the kids, shown throughout the program, has been amazing.” The once-daunting goal of flying an airplane has been achieved, “one step at a time – one bite at a time, we knocked it down and all of our students, by the time they got to the tenth hour, beginning to land the airplane on their own.”

“Eyeballs to the end of the runway,” calls out Hoffert, over the airplane’s headset. Brouse battles some mild crosswinds as he returns to the airport—a smooth landing today, with plans for many more ahead as a commercial or private pilot.

“It’s an amazing opportunity that many other kids do not have,” he says. “And hopefully, it will help me get into college and be prepared for my career in aviation.”