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Monthly Health Ministry: What is Kombucha?

You may have that one healthy friend who drinks it in gallons, or this could be your first time hearing about it. Either way, here’s what you need to know about kombucha and why you might want to consider trying it. Pronounced kômˈbo͞oCHə, the fermented tea has been around for more than 2,000 years. It’s made from bacteria and yeast mixed with black tea and sugar. (Yes, live bacteria!) The bacteria makes the drink bubbly and gives it the slight scent of vinegar. Because of the fermentation process, which produces a mass that looks similar to a mushroom cap, kombucha is often referred to as “mushroom tea”. Sometimes bacteria can still be found floating around in the drink. This is not unlike wine sediment and isn’t some-thing that should concern you.

But what’s it taste like? The taste is frequently called sweet and tart.

Dr. Jacqueline Ivey-Brown, an internal medicine physician at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., says kombucha has healthy ingredients and benefits. Every serving of the drink contains probiotics, B vitamins, enzymes and organic acids. These ingredients are known to improve your digestive system, reduce bloating and even strengthen your immune system.

Unlike other sugary drinks, kombucha only has roughly 30 calories for every eight ounces.

But despite the benefits of kombucha, Dr. Ivey-Brown says there are a few things you should know before drinking it: Don’t consume it in gallons. Too much kombucha can cause heartburn. Stay away from home-brewed kombucha. Commercially produced versions are fine, but like anything containing bacteria, there’s always a chance for contamination.

Kombucha contains alcohol. While most drinks only carry a minimal amount of alcohol as a result of the fermentation process, this information is especially important for women who are pregnant. Some kombucha brews are also purposely fermented for lengthy periods to give it more alcohol – sometimes as much as beer! So always check the label before drinking it. By: health enews Staff

“Saved to Serve”

As men, women, and children

united in faith and worship

by the Word of God,

the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

exists to make disciples

throughout the world

for time and for eternity,

using the Gospel

to win the lost for Christ

and to nurture believers

for lives of Christian service,

all to the glory

of God.

OUR

MISSION

ST. JOHN’S

NOTES & NEWS

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My Daily Walk With God Inside this Issue:

Dec 1: 1Cor 9-11 Dec 2: 1Cor 12-14 Dec 3: 1Cor 15-16 Dec 4: 2Cor 1-4 Dec 5: 2Cor 5-9 Dec 6: 2Cor 10-13 Dec 7: Acts 20:1-3; Rom 1-3 Dec 8: Rom 4-7 Dec 9: Rom 8-10 Dec 10: Rom 11-13 Dec 11: Rom 14-16 Dec 12: Acts 20:4-23:35 Dec 13: Acts 24-26 Dec 14: Acts 27-28 Dec 15: Colossians; Philemon Dec 16: Ephesians Dec 17: Philippians 1-4 Dec 18: 1 Timothy Dec 19: Titus Dec 20: 1 Peter Dec 21: Heb 1-6 Dec 22: Heb 7-10 Dec 23: Heb 11-13 Dec 24: 2 Timothy Dec 25: 2 Peter; Jude Dec 26: 1 John Dec 27: 2/3 John Dec 28: Rev 1-5 Dec 29: Rev 6-11 Dec 30: Rev 12-18 Dec 31: Rev 19-22

My Daily Walk with God 2

Worship Schedule 2

Bible Hour/Worship events 3

Principal’s Article 4-5

Council Members 6

Attendance 6

Ladies Auxiliary 11

LWMS 11-12

WELS Updates 12-14

Para-synodical Spotlight 15

Shut-ins 15

Health Ministry 16

Pastor Kurt Schaser cell # (262) 339-0638 Church-262-675-6640 Principal Tim Payne,

School-262-675-6852 office@stjohnsnewburg.com www.stjohnsnewburg.com

Worship Times

Sundays

8:00 am and 10:30 am

Mondays 7:00 pm

Advent: 4:30 and 7:00 pm

Wednesdays,

Dec 4, 11, and 18

Christmas Eve

Children’s Program: 5:00 pm

Candlelight: 7:00 pm

Christmas Day: 9:00 am

New Year’s Eve: 5:00 pm

Office Hours:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday 7:30 am - 3:00 pm

December 2019

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Shut-ins

WELS PARA-SYNODICAL SPOTLIGHT for NOVEMBER

Mission to the Children www.missiontothechildren.org

WELS Mission to the Children is a Christian, non-profit, volunteer organiza-tion dedicated to sharing the Gospel and feeding hungry children in Sonora, Mexico. Mission to the Children donations provide the gospel and food to more than a thousand poor Mexican children and their families every month. Iglesia Evangelica Lutherano Confessional In addition to food and humanitarian aid, Mission to the Children donations help support two Mexican pastors and their families called to serve Iglesia Evangelica Lutherano Confessional (IELC) congregations in Altar, El Sasabe, and several other towns and outlying villages in Sonora, Mexico. Mission to the Children is Different Mission to the Children is a grass roots organization run entirely by WELS laity. A volunteer board of directors is responsible for all organizational, financial and administrative decisions. Our goal is not to make the world a better place; our goal is to share the love of Christ with others. Humanitari-an aid is a bridge for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please join us as we serve others in love.

*A para-synodical organization is one that is approved by WELS, but does

not receive direct funding from our synod. These organizations rely mainly

upon individual WELS members supporting their ministry work.

Eldred & Darlene Haeuser 715 Milan Dr. Apt 11 Saukville, WI 53080 Darlene - DOB: Feb. 4 Eldred - DOB: May 4

Gloria Schwengel DOB:Mar17 Cedar Bay Residential Facility 5555 Cedar Bay Dr Apt.1260 West Bend, WI 53095

Del Peters DOB: Feb. 12 822 E. Walnut St. Horicon, WI 53032

Howard & Marylin Thiede 7855 Indianlore Rd. Unit#20 West Bend, WI 53090 Howard-DOB: Dec 7 Marylin-DOB: Feb 26

Paul Zimdars DOB: Mar 25 PO Box 71 Newburg, WI 53060

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WELS Multi-Language Publications (MLP) sponsored a conference in Lu-saka, Zambia, in August to equip and inspire representatives from our part-ner synods in Africa. The MLP Expo 2019 brought 17 Africans from 6 coun-tries and 3 American missionaries together for 4 days. The two main objec-tives of this event were to give participants linguistic tools to translate con-fessional Lutheran literature from English into their local languages and to produce a prioritized list of the publications needed in each sister synod. Missionary John Roebke of the One Africa Team, says, “Our partners in Af-rica are looking for the essential tools needed to conduct gospel ministry. Thankfully translations of the Bible in their native tongues already exist. But how confidently can someone call himself ‘Lutheran’ if he never read anything written by Martin Luther?” Both the Ethiopian and Kenyan Lu-theran synods want to translate the Small Catechism into a total of seven languages between them. Other goals include adapting MLP’s “Bible Sto-ries in Pictures—Expanded Version” for Sunday schools in the African churches as well as creating doctrinally sound hymnals, evangelism tracts, and prayer books for special services such as funerals and church dedica-tions. Roebke reports, “Our African brothers and sisters in Christ want to walk with us in the same faith, yet they have a much more difficult path to follow than we can even begin to understand. In Cameroon, armed rebels shut down the country every week on Mondays and are threatening to make this a permanent arrangement until they get independence. Pastor Mathias walks six hours to preach at one of the congregations he serves and then another six hours to get home. Pastor Mweete struggles to in-crease attendance at Bible class and to keep from losing his members to the Pentecostal church. Pastor Onunda tries to communicate the Bible’s timeless truth to the youth of his church, even though they don’t under-stand his Lutheran style of worship and he doesn’t speak their ‘Sheng’ (a type of slang that is popular among Kenyan youth).” Reading materials printed on paper are still the primary method of receiving information about the world in these regions of Africa. Although some older smartphones and social media apps are starting to appear in the capital cities of Africa, internet access remains an expensive luxury for most peo-ple. “WELS congregations across the United States make use of hymnals, Sunday school lessons, and other educational books without any thought of where those materials come from. Each one of our sister synods in Afri-ca also has a great need for high-quality, scripturally faithful materials printed in at least two or three of the languages spoken by their members. God’s servants work diligently for months and even years before their manuscripts come into print. Tight budgets, untimely illnesses, and armed conflict stop publications projects in their tracks,” says Roebke.

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SUNDAY MORNING FAMILY BIBLE HOUR

Family Bible hour begins @ 9:15am. PK-8th grade children begin in church before heading to their classrooms.

Teens and Adults meet in the fellowship hall.

Adult Bible Study Topic December: Portraits of Christmas

(People, Politics, Dates, Prophecies, Places, 400 Silent Years)

7-8th Grade Bible Study Topic in December: Christmas Lessons & Activities

PK-6th Grade Bible Study Topic in December:

Christmas Lessons & Activities

DECEMBER WORSHIP/EVENTS @ St. John’s

Midweek Advent Worship (Dec. 4,11,18 – Worship @ 4:30 & 7pm. Meal in between) *Worship Focus – Letters to the 7 Churches in Revelation

**Dec. 18th – Examination of Youth Confirmands

Christmas for Kids – Dec. 7th (3 year olds – 4th Grade. 12-4pm)

Advent by Candlelight – Dec. 8th @ 3:30pm

Ladies Auxiliary Christmas Party – Dec. 10th @6pm

Christmas Caroling w/ Pioneers & Youth Group – Dec. 17th @ 6pm

Christmas Eve Worship – Dec. 24th 5pm – Children’s Christmas Program Worship

7pm – Candlelight Worship

Christmas Day Worship – 9am

New Year’s Eve Worship – 5pm w/ Holy Communion

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St. John’s Lutheran School exists to glorify Jesus Christ, assisting parents in

educating, training, and nurturing his children for this life and for heaven.

From the Principal’s Desk Our school year is flying by! Hard to believe, but the first quarter and a half is almost complete. Every day the students are learning about their Savior Jesus, not just in religion class or devotions, but all day long in every subject. Christ permeates all we do. May we all be filled with awe this Advent season as we ponder the God-Man, Jesus, come to earth in such a humble state. Basketball Season – Co-op teams Both our boys’ and girls’ teams are co-oping with other KML Schools federation teams. The boys will be playing with St. Lucas in Kewaskum. The girls will be playing with Our Savior’s in Grafton. There are even a few cheerleaders joining the St. Lucas squad to cheer on our boys. There will not be any home basketball games held at St. John’s this year. However, we will still hold our Spirit Week at the end of January/beginning of February to cheer on our players as they prepare for the KML Schools basketball tournament. The number of participants dictated that we join with another team and our athletic conference has requirements for school’s in this position. God-willing we will have enough participants next year to have our own teams again. Mr. Igl Health Update – Remission!! We are happy to report that Mr. Igl found out last week that his cancer is in remission! All praise to Jesus, the Great Physician. Mr. Igl will continue to have scans periodically to ensure that the cancer cells are gone.

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The leadership also continues to closely monitor the political situation in Hong Kong where Asia Lutheran Seminary is located. Please keep this situation in your prayers. Pray that our heavenly Father would protect the brothers and sisters of the focus country and give them courage to continue to stand upon the gospel and share it. Pray that our missionaries and families would be encouraged in this time of upheaval. Pray that the Lord would continue to keep the professors, staff, and families of Asia Lutheran Seminary safe.

The WELS Hymnal Project Executive Committee met for its final face-to-face meeting this month. This 14-member committee charged with carry-ing out the development of the new hymnal and its auxiliary resources started meeting in 2013. At that meeting, the committee made final deci-sions on the two main pew books—the Hymnal pew edition and the Psal-ter pew edition—before sending the files to Northwestern Publishing House for editing, proofreading, and layout. “There was a temporary pause for reflection at the meeting,” says Rev. Michael Schultz, director of the WELS Hymnal Project, “but there are still a lot of things to finish to get the balance of the books out.” Schultz is talking about the 15 to 17 books and 3 digital products that will accompany the hymnal—the major-ity of which will be released at the same time as the hymnal in Advent 2021. Several subcommittees of the WELS Hymnal Project are continuing to write and develop these materials that will provide direction, support, and resources to pastors, worship planners, musicians, and choir direc-tors. The Technology Committee especially is ramping up as it takes fin-ished materials and inputs them into a digital service builder software program. To begin introducing the new hymnal to WELS members, the WELS Hymnal Project is releasing a 64-page preview booklet at the Janu-ary 2020 WELS Leadership Conference in Chicago. Each congregation also will receive multiple copies of the booklet. Schultz says the booklet will show features of the new hymnal, psalter, and other resources so that congregations can start planning for the hymnal’s release. A formal Hym-nal Introduction Program will start at the same time, offering introduc-tions to the products that are coming out, ideas for introducing the hym-nal to members, as well as tips for funding. New hymnal materials also will be highlighted and featured at the next worship conference in 2021. Schultz says the executive committee will still meet online as products continue to be finalized. He says, “There’s still a lot of work to do!”

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During this busy time of year, please pray for these men and the work that they do in sharing the saving message of the Gospel. Dear Jesus, my Savior, who served the world by giving your life as a ransom for all, thank you for calling these men to be pastors-to be your servants who share the good news of forgiveness in your name. Let that privileged work bring joy to their hearts, and keep them from getting burdened by other things-things like whether or not people like their sermons, appreciate their work among them, or give them the respect they, in fact, deserve. Forgive these pastors for whenever they have looked too much at themselves and what they think they need, rather than looking at all you have done for them. Help them remember that they are immeasurably blessed to serve you by serving others with your Word and sacraments. In your name, Amen. (taken from There’s a Prayer for That 2017NPH)

Respectfully submitted by LWMS Reporter, Sarah Schaser

WELS Update

Recently the Board for World Missions decided to pull our East Asia Team missionaries and families out of their focus country because of security concerns. The government of their focus country is now regularly detain-ing, interrogating, and deporting any Westerner or group suspected of religious activity. Many mission organizations, large and small, have al-ready pulled their operations out of the country over the past few years. The East Asia missionaries and their families are being relocated to a near-by country from which they hope to continue their work in the focus country through online teaching, through distance mentoring and coach-ing, and through regular monthly visits back into the focus country. Over the next few months, the team will be working hard to acquire new visas and adjust to the new reality in the relocation country. The Board for World Missions and the East Asia Administrative Committee have been monitoring this situation for the last few years and had been preparing for this contingency for months. As a result, the team is not in a state of panic, and everyone is safely out of harm’s way. Most important, the team is humbly confident that the Lord works even through these difficult times to advance his kingdom’s work.

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Divine Call -Decision As you may have heard, I've been deliberating two Calls that the Holy Spirit had placed before me. After much prayer and discussion with the leadership at First and with members at St. John's, I've decided to returned their Call and to continue in my Calling at St. John's. Deliberation was a struggle because I believe my gifts would have been a good fit at First. However, I believe there is more for me to accomplish in the exciting ministry that we share. I appreciate all of the positive notes of encouragement that so many of you shared with me and my family. Thank you for the continued opportunity to serve in the full-time ministry here at St. John's. There is a synod-wide shortage of called workers (both pastors and teachers). Please pray for all the ministries that are seeking workers that God blesses their work with or without the Called workers they are hoping for. Encourage those who show gifts for full-time ministry to consider that vocation. Board of Education Highlights -The Vision Statement Objectives for the next 5 years were discussed

and approved. - Miss Melissa Mittelstadt returned the Divine Call we extended her to

teach preschool half-time. Instead of arranging a second call meeting immediately, it was decided to wait until after the 2nd Pastor Call meeting just in case the Pastor would have a wife who might be interested in the preschool Call. Now that the 2nd Pastor Call has been made, another Call meeting for the half-time pre-school teacher position will be held.

- St. John’s Harvest Fest was a success and we heard many positive comments.

-Two required policies for the Choice program were approved (capitalization and EFT)

-The Accreditation Self-Study teams have been working with a Christmas deadline.

-The semi-annual School Safety Drill report was given to the Board for review.

-School Parent survey results were discussed. -School handbooks were updated and approved (Faculty, Board, &

Board Manual)

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St. John’s Church Council Members—2019

Pastor Schaser Gather, Go, Grow 339-0638

Larry Geidel President 689-6759

Ken Liesener Elders Chairman 251-9031

Tim Payne Principal 353-0978

Marc Frey Stewardship Chairman 353-2549

Jared Timm Education Chairman 414-614-3158

Jonah Spaeth Member-at-Large 414-899-9537

If you would like a copy of our constitution and by-laws please contact the office. In that document is an organization chart showing the expanded version of the entire church structure. It can also be found online at: https://goo.gl/brMjeZ Questions or Concerns? If anyone has questions, concerns, or comments about our church or school, please feel free to talk to someone on the church council. God provides these men to assist you! (If there is a concern with Pastor or one of the teachers, please speak directly to them.) God uses these men as his servants to carry on the gospel work within our congregation.

ATTENDANCE

Membership: 613 Communicants: 508

Worship Faith Builders Bible Study* Sunday School

Oct 27 275 4 84 20 Nov 3 341 5 101 30 Nov 10 356 6 96 30 Nov 17 312 5 89 27 Nov 24 263 68 22 Nov 28 230

* Sunday+Monday morning classes

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Our next meeting is December 10. We have an earlier start time of 6pm for our Christmas Party. We will be serving a light dinner following a devotion, followed by games, caroling and Secret Pal gift exchange. Ladies, please remember your cookies. Hostesses are Carrie Meloy, Alane Arneman, Bette Jane Karnitz, Sarah Schaser and Michelle Schanning.

We do not have a business meeting in December. All ladies are invited to join us to celebrate Christmas. It was great to have so many ladies join us last year. Please bring a gift of approximately $5 to exchange with other guests if you would like.

Elections results at our November meeting: Vice President: Lisa Voigt Treasurer: Bette Jane Karnitz

We decided to try next year without a Program Committee. We are going to try having ladies volunteer to chair our events throughout the year, hoping to give more ladies that opportunity. The VP position is a big job so we are also hoping to reduce the time commitment needed for that role.

Upcoming Dates: Dec 8: Advent by Candlelight Dec 10: Next meeting Dec 18: Ladies Auxiliary serving chicken soup for the Advent Supper

Befriend A Mission: As part of the LWMS, each congregation is part of the “Befriend a Mission” program. Through this program we support the pastors who serve in our

home and world missions. Each congregation is assigned several missions to encourage and support. Our Ladies’ Auxiliary typically sends cards and gifts their way. Our St. John’s family is privileged to support these pastors in 2019-2020: Rev. Timothy Leistekow at Grace in San Carlos, Arizona Rev. Jared Oldenburg at Eternal Rock in Castle Rock, Colorado Dr. Paul Jordan at Christ in Pewaukee, Wisconsin

Ladies Auxiliary