WORSHIP SERVICES IN MAY

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MUSIC NOTES
 Lisa Cardwell | music director 

I am so grateful for the hard work and love that our pianist, chancel choir, Joyful Tones, beginner and adult handbell choirs put into making our Holy Week services so worshipful. We will remember this love and dedication for a long time, and especially as we reflect on what Christ did for us. You brought it to life through music.

Now our chancel choir rehearsals are moving to 9:00 on Sunday mornings, and we are singing some easier (but hopefully still worshipful) anthems. We will continue to lead music through the summer, with perhaps an occasional day off. If you know of anyone would like to provide a solo (vocal or instrumental) this summer, please notify me. We would love to hear some of our young talented singers that we heard at the Christmas program.

Our adult handbell choir is preparing to play on May 19. We will have a guest bell-ringer with us this time. Jon Devery Thomas has been asking about an opportunity of playing with the group one Sunday. He will play an anthem and a hymn with us on May 19. Also on this date, we will be celebrating the preschool graduation.

Don’t miss the music this summer!

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WORSHIP REPORT
 Greg McNair | worship elder 

Joyful May greetings to the Easter people of Swift Presbyterian Church.

After progressing through Lent and the days of reflection and preparation leading to Holy Week, now we are entering a new month. And we are in the midst of Easter, a seven-week period that started with Easter Sunday.

On Sunday, May 5, the Rev. Chris Peters will preach. He is associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairhope and the husband of the Rev. Lauren Peters, who has preached here a few times and served as a consultant on our children’s ministry. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper by intinction on that day. Everyone is welcome at the table.

The Rev. Lauren Peters will preach May 12. This is Mother’s Day.

On May 19, there will be a presbytery-wide pulpit swap. Pastor Kim Vanbrimmer of Orange Beach Presbyterian Church will preach at Swift and Pastor Jody Beth of Swift will be preaching in Jackson. We will also have our preschool graduation during the 10:00 service.

Pastor Jody Beth will preach at Swift on May 26.

May also brings the end of the school year and various graduations. It also brings a hiatus for Sunday school classes for children and youth and a slower pace for many church activities.

Looking back on Holy Week, many people attended our moving Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday worship services, which were enhanced by the dedicated efforts of our various choirs. On Good Friday, we wrote our sins on pieces of paper and attached them to a cross, which was later carried out of the church and placed in a stand. That wooden cross was replaced by a flowered cross, signifying new life for Easter morning.

Thanks to all who participated in any way in worship leadership for those services.

As usual, though, the number of worshipers dwindled the next week, maybe partly because it was the end of spring break in local schools.

People must like the rearranging of the pews and a few other tweaks made inside the sanctuary because I don’t believe we have heard a single negative comment. Not too much repositioning can be done with 18-foot pews, especially when space is needed for center, right and left aisles. At any rate, we think the result is an improved and friendlier worship space. Thanks to all who worked on this.

Now, we have an area in the back of the church where people can chat before the start of services without needing to stand in the aisles and potentially causing little “traffic jams.”

As Pastor Keith continues his sabbatical through July 14, please pray for him and Lisa. Please give our guest pastors and all of our visitors a warm welcome.

Thanks again to all of our volunteers who do such a fine job each week.
 
Calendar notes:

■ May 2 is National Day of Prayer. For information, visit nationaldayofprayer.org. That day is also Holocaust Remembrance Day.

■ May 30 marks the Ascension of the Lord into heaven.

WORSHIP AT THE FOUNTAIN

“Worship at the Fountain” will take place the weekend of Art in the Park on Sunday, May 12, Mother’s Day. The service will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the fountain at Heritage Park in the center of Foley. This brief ecumenical worship service is offered before the booths open at 9 a.m. Pastor Jody Beth Melton of Swift Presbyterian Church will lead the service, Jack Williams will sing “I Want To Stroll Over Heaven With You,” and Marvin King will serve as sound technician. All are welcome.

‘TWO OR MORE’ FELLOWSHIP LUNCH
Thursday, May 2 • 11:30 a.m.
O’Charley’s — Highway 59 South, Foley

BUTTERFLY GIRLS • GUYS’ NIGHT  OUT
Thursday, May 16 • 6:30 p.m.
Gelato Joe’s — 202 E. Michigan Ave. at Commercial Street, Foley
(near Winn-Dixie)

Please contact Mary McNair at 251-295-5267 if you plan to come, even if a maybe, by that morning so she can make seating arrangements.

Our group is growing ever since the girls and guys meet at the same place, although we sit and visit together separately. Come join us this month. Couples or singles are welcome. Join us and suggest new places for us to try.

Come join us this month. Couples or singles are welcome. Join us and suggest new places for us to try.

MISSION REPORT
 Pate Cardwell and Al Sprouse | mission elders 

Food pantry
Our food pantry served 20 families on April 10 and 36 families on April 24. The need continues to exist for volunteers to fill and distribute bags of groceries to the families that visit our food pantry. The work is not difficult and is made easier when shared by many people. Contact Mary Ard at (251) 213-8461 to find out how you can use your time and talents at our food pantry.

One Great Hour of Sharing
With everyone’s generous donations, our contribution to One Great Hour of Sharing this year is $1,707. When God’s people work together through One Great Hour of Sharing, the possibilities are endless. Our children contributed $71 through the “Gertrude the Grouper” banks.

Local community support
Our new mission, based on the congregation’s request from the mission questionnaire responses at the first of this year, will be to provide daily snacks for the students at Elberta Elementary School. Our mission is directed toward assuring that no child will be without a midday snack. Snack time is designated by the school to provide an opportunity for the students to gain additional nourishment for the remainder of their day.

Most students are in a position to bring their own snacks. Unfortunately, some students are not as fortunate. We will provide snacks for every classroom and the faculty will be responsible to make sure that every student has a snack. The only prerequisite for the students is that they do not have a snack on any given day. This mission will be funded with our donations to the “two cents a meal” offering.

UKirk South Alabama
May 12 will give us an opportunity to celebrate the good works that are done locally at the campuses of University of South Alabama and Spring Hill College in Mobile. On this Sunday, it will be our honor to have the sermon delivered by Pastor Lauren Peters. Lauren is the minister for UKirk South Alabama. Our mission for this Sunday is obviously UKirk. We have a goal of $500 that hopefully will be our minimum donation to UKirk.

OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP WITH FELLOWSHIP TIME

Thank you to all who have signed up to bring snacks for the fellowship time after the 10:00 service. Everyone is enjoying the mixture of healthful and sweet snacks. If you are able, your fellowship deacons, Kathy Knipe and Tina Sprouse, would appreciate you signing up to provide a sweet snack, a healthful snack, or for cleanup duty. If you are able to participate in any way, please sign up on the sheet located in the fellowship hall or call Tina at (251) 510-5444. Reimbursement for expenses is available.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION REPORT
 Brett Cardwell | elder/children • Tara  Morrow | elder/youth 

Presbyterian youth fish fry fundraiser a success
Four area Presbyterian churches joined together to hold a fish fry on April 13 to benefit the youth of all four churches. Swift Church initiated the idea, and First Foley, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores Presbyterian churches all joined in, selling tickets, baking cookies, frying fish, and attending to every little detail needed to make the event a success. The profit totaled $1,332.84. Thank you, everyone.

Funds raised by the fish fry are in a separate fund, “Youth Camp,” at Swift Church, to be used for members of any of the four churches to attend the Montreat Youth Conference, to assist chaperones with their expenses, and, if there are funds remaining, to assist with sending youth and children to other approved summer camps and conferences.

■ SWAG (formerly Kids’ Club) is for children in grades K–4. In May, on a date to be determined, there will be an end-of-year celebration.

■ GΦG is our youth group for ages fifth grade through high school.

Both groups meet at the church and have a lesson, games and a small meal.

■ Refuel, our periodic Wednesday night youth group meeting, is from 6 to 8 p.m. You are encouraged to invite your school friends, neighbors, etc. If anyone would like to prepare a meal for children or youth, please let Teresa Thomas or Tara Morrow know.

SNACKS WITH SUSAN AND DARYL
 Susan and Daryl Pichoff | leaders 

The class meets in the fellowship hall on Sundays from 9 to 9:45 a.m. and is led by Susan and Daryl Pichoff.

Join us as we wrap up the video series by Amy-Jill Levine “Entering the Passion of Jesus — a Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week” on May 5 with “Gethsemene: Risking Temptation.” Our class is going to take off Mother’s Day and resume on May 19 with Philip Yancey’s study on prayer. Our discussion will include:

■ Is God listening?
■ Why should God care about me?
■ If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer?
■ Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent and capricious?
■ Why does God seem sometimes close and sometimes far away?
■ How can I make prayer more satisfying?

We have great discussions and good snacks.

If you have questions, please let me know. Contact Susan at tabfanatic@gmail.com or 251-233-9486 (phone or text).

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL
 Cheryl Jensen | leader 

We continue our chronological study of the New Testament. We will be reading in 1 Corinthians, A.D. 55, about Paul’s instructions on ethical issues, avoiding offenses, and spiritual gifts. Come join us as we dig into these life lessons. We welcome you to our class at any time. We meet at 9:00 on Sunday mornings in room 2 in the annex.

BIBLE STUDIES ON BOOK OF GENESIS
Sunday evenings, Thursday mornings

Sunday evening and Thursday morning Bible study groups will be finishing “Invitation to Genesis” in May. Both groups will meet for an end of the study fellowship lunch on Thursday, May 21, at 11:30 a.m.(location to be determined). Bible study will resume in September. If you are interested in studying a particular book of the Bible, or a topical study, please contact Pastor Jody Beth or Adult Christian Education Elder Andrew King.

BIBLE STUDY AND FELLOWSHIP 
FOR ADULTS AT A GLANCE

We are blessed to have so many people who would like to be part of Bible study and fellowship at Swift Church. Here is a listing of the groups that are meeting. All of them are open to people visiting and/or joining the group, whether you are a member of Swift Church or not. For more information, contact the leaders or the church office.

Weekly:

• Sundays, 9 to 9:45 a.m., adult Sunday school class, room 2 in the annex, continuing a chronolgical study of the New Testament. Led by Cheryl Jensen

• Sundays, 9 to 9:45 a.m., Snacks with Susan and Daryl, fellowship hall, led by Susan and Daryl Pichoff; topic varies. The class usually watches a DVD and discusses informative topics.

• Sunday evening (5:30 to 6:15) and Thursday morning (10 to 11:30), Bible study groups meet weekly. They are completing a study of the book of Genesis. After a hiatus, another study will start in September. Contacts are Pastor Jody Beth and Philip Melton, 251-213-6625.

• Thursdays (first Thursday of month), 11:30 a.m., “Two or More” fellowship lunch at O’Charley’s in Foley on South McKenzie Street. Contact is Lee Mansell.

• Thursdays (third Thursday of month), 6:30 p.m., Butterfly Girls and Guys’ Night Out fellowship dinner at area restaurants, different place each month.

WE APPRECIATE OUR MAY VOLUNTEERS

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“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others,
faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” — 1 Peter 4:10

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GREETER/USHER TEAMS
May 5 — Kim Whitchard and Judy Walker
May 12 — Jane King and Lee Mansell
May 19 — Paula and Danny Brewer
May 26 — Debbie and Norm Schmidt

ACOLYTES
May 5 — Cadi Cardwell and McCoy Cooper
May 12 — Lainey Thomas
May 19 — ZoeyLynn and Zadie Grace Barnwell
May 26 — Sully Curry

NURSERY VOLUNTEERS (if needed)
May 5 — Jane King and Carlie Sims
May 12 — Ginny Kleinschmidt and Tara Morrow
May 19 — Pate and Brett Cardwell
May 26 — Tracy Akins and Lisa Turner

TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
May 5 — Cathy Rogers
May 12 — Teresa Thomas
May 19 — Pate Cardwell
May 26 — Debbie Schmidt

CHILDREN’S CHURCH
May 5 — None due to communion being served
May 12 — Lezli and Kenny Thomason
May 19 — Megan Curry and Debbie Schmidt
May 26 — Teresa and Ella Thomas

ELDER OF THE MONTH
Mike Barnwell

PROJECTIONIST
Andrew King  

SANCTUARY FLOWER SCHEDULING
Please contact Susie Alexander to reserve your date.

Flowers can be offered for a special occasion, birthday, anniversary, in memory of someone special, or just because you want to. They don’t have to be an expensive bouquet or arrangement, but something out of your own garden can be just as beautiful. We keep a calendar in the office so that you can check to see if your date is available.

You can reach Susie at 251-943-4145 or at thfairynfoley@gmail.com.

ABOUT ONLINE GIVING . . .

You may have noticed this box in your bulletin. Using your “smart phone” and this box you can connect to the church’s online giving page. You can set up for automatic donations of your tithes or one-time gifts to a number of funds benefiting ministries of Swift Church. Use this by either entering your credit/debit card information or your checking account information. Of course, this is a secure website.

You can also do the same thing by clicking a donation link on the church’s website.