The congregation of Our Savior Lutheran Church of Vero Beach will celebrate the arrival of Pastor Shelly A. Satran to begin a new ministry to youth and families in the Indian River County area.

Pastor Satran was most recently living in and working in Haiti for Beyond Borders and the Federation of Lutheran Churches of Haiti. Beyond Borders is a Christian development organization that focuses on education, literacy, and children's rights.

Pastor Satran also worked with the Federation of Lutheran Churches in Haiti to organize the churches together as a working body and to facilitate the ongoing theological training of Haiti's Lutheran Pastors. In addition to her experience in Haiti, where Pastor Shelly lived with her husband, Kent Annan, who is skilled in overseas ministry, and who continues to work on the ground in Haiti, Pastor Shelly was a Pastoral Assistant at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hainesport, New Jersey. Pastor Satran is fluent in Haitian Creole.

As the Associate Pastor for Youth and Family Ministries at Our Savior Lutheran, Pastor Satran will bring her energy to design, develop, and oversee a comprehensive ministry of Christian education. Our Savior's education ministry serves newborns and new moms (and dads), children in grades K to 12 through Christian education, Junior and Senior High School Youth through Teen Ministry and adults through education classes and small groups.

When asked about her vision of ministry, Pastor Satran offered this insight: "In Haiti, a common response to the question 'How are you?' is 'piti piti' which means, 'little by little.' Haiti is mired in the complex systemic issues of economic poverty and political instability that manifest themselves in heartbreaking individual ways on a daily basis. To hear this response from someone whose daughter has had a fever for over a month, from a neighbor who can only afford to send one of her children to school, from a friend who has been robbed twice at gunpoint in six months, struck me every time. 'Little by little.' This has had a profound influence on how I seek to act and serve in this world. My approach is to move forward, little by little each day, always ready and expecting and working for the leaps and bounds that enter and transform us when we glimpse the kingdom that will one day be reality."

Pastor Satran's arrival in Vero Beach with be celebrated with a service of installation to which all interested members of the community are invited. The service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Sunday, January 28,2007 at Our Savior Lutheran Church located at 1850 6 th Avenue in Vero Beach. Our Savior Lutheran is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America (ELCA).