■ Worship on Sundays at 8 a.m.
in the historic chapel

■ Worship each Sunday at 10 a.m.
in the sanctuary;
live streaming on Facebook

■ Online worship available later on YouTube and the church website

■ Join your church family for fellowship
after the 10:00 service in the fellowship hall.

The Swift Church Session met on Jan. 17.

After introduction of the newly installed members, the meeting opened with prayer.

     ■ First on the agenda was approving the 2022 budget. The budget total is $257,000. A significant portion of the increase is due to rising insurance costs.

     ■ We approved the written reports that required no action.

     ■ Personnel announced that all the staff is staying on after Pastor Keith’s retirement. During the transition, Pastor Jody Beth Melton will work Sunday through Thursday, with Friday and Saturday as days off. Session agreed to support her time off and be contacts for ordinary issues.

     ■ Worship — Susie Alexander joined the church on Jan. 16. Supply preaching schedule is listed in Worship in February, and Greg will continue to work on filling slots for March.

     ■ Lynn Aspray (treasurer) and Susan Pichoff (clerk of session) were approved to retain their positions in 2022 by unanimous vote.

     ■ Don Aspray and Jan Taylor will represent Swift at the February Presbytery meeting. (This meeting has been changed to March.)

A congregational meeting was set for Jan. 23 to dissolve the pastoral relationship between the Rev. Keith Cardwell and Swift Church.

During the month of February (specifically on the 13th, 20th, and 27th), piano duets will be focusing on a musical style called “canons.” Simply put, “a canon is a piece of voices or instrumental parts that sing or play the same music at different times. A “round” is a type of canon, but in a round each voice when it finishes, can start back to the beginning, singing “round and round.” The most well known canon is “Pachelbel’s Canon,” written by Johann Pachelbel. You’ll be hearing this canon on Feb. 20. Other well-known composers who wrote canons include Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Canons being played during this month are the following:
     ■ Feb 13 — “Alleluia Canon,” based on a canon by W.A. Mozart
     ■ Feb 20 — “Canon of Praise” based on “Kanon” by Johann Pachelbel
     ■ Feb 27 — “Canon of Thanks” based on a traditional folk song.

The handbell choir will play on Feb. 20. During these times of COVID variants, we are requiring flexibility on everyone’s part in order for the community to be safe. We certainly appreciate Heather Myer and Pate Cardwell helping us out on Jan. 23 due to three ringers being out with health concerns. We strive for the many ways in which handbell ringing promotes “teamwork,” and this was certainly exemplified on that day. The team came together and quickly learned different music on the 23rd from what we had rehearsed for a month.

Thursday, Feb. 3 • 11:30 a.m.
Captain’s Choice Grill, Foley
2881 S. Juniper St., inside Gulf Bowl

The “Two or More” lunch group meets on the first Thursday of each month for food and fellowship. All are welcome! Sometimes we have friends of church members join us.

Please plan to join us and invite others. Contact is Pastor Jody Beth.

Thursday, Feb. 17 • 6 p.m.
El Paso Mexican Grill
3191 S. McKenzie St. #3701, Foley
(next door to Hobby Lobby)

We gather once a month for great conversation and fellowship over dinner. Men and women sit separately. If you’ve never come, please consider joining us — it’s a great way to get to know others in the church, and guests are welcome as well.

Please RSVP to Mary McNair by text at 251-295-5267 or email at marymcnair@centurylink.net. Please provide the names of all for whom you are making the reservation and indicate any who would like a ride.

The food pantry served 29 families and 50 individuals in ï»¿January. It will be open again on Wednesdays, Feb. 9 and 23, from 10 to 11 a.m. to serve the community.

Some exciting news for our food pantry …
Publix grocery stores have a corporate program to distribute products locally. Our Swift Food Pantry volunteers, after working on this for over a year, were notified this week that we have been chosen to partner with the Publix store in Foley.

This means we will be picking up products from the various departments to distribute to those in need.

Swift has been chosen because of our adherence to high standards of safe food handling and high level of customer service. These are products that don’t meet Publix retail standards but still meet standards for distribution to food pantries like ours around the region.

We have an immediate need for a volunteer to pick up food from the Foley Publix on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 a.m., beginning Wednesday, Feb. 2. Someone with access to a truck, van or SUV that can handle cases and boxes of donations is preferred. If you can help us serve the community in this endeavor, please contact Al Sprouse at 251-744-1944.

If you are in financial need from lack of work, medical bills, or other reasons, please contact Pastor Jody Beth for assistance. Your generosity to the pastors’ discretionary fund allows us to provide those in need with financial support.

The class, led by Cheryl Jensen, meets in room 2 in the annex every week at 9 a.m.

The class, led by Susan and Daryl Pichoff, meets in the fellowship hall every week at 9 a.m.

Meets in the annex, youth room, every week at 9 a.m. Taught by Tracy Akins.

Wednesday, Feb. 16 • 6 to 8 p.m.
at the Akins home
9132 Woodland Drive, Elberta

Middle- and high-school youth will meet for dinner and Refuel. Refuel will continue to meet the third Wednesday of each month during the spring semester.

Generosity describes the Christian’s unselfish willingness to give in order to make a positive difference for the purposes of Christ. Extravagant generosity describes practices of sharing and giving that exceed all expectations and extend to unexpected measures.

Thank you for your generous pledges and ongoing offerings. Your support and commitment to our church is greatly appreciated.

Clicking the button will take you
to our donation page on a secure site.

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.