Pastor Shelly Satran Pastor Shelly A. Satran is the most recent addition to the pastoral staff at Our Savior. She was called to the position of Associate Pastor for Family Life Ministries January 28th, 2007. In addition to sharing a role in worship leadership and general pastoral ministries, Pastor Satran works specifically with the education and family ministries at Our Savior. These ministries serve all in the family of God, and have specific programs for K to 12 through Christian education, middle school confirmation, Junior and Senior High School Youth through Teen Ministry and adult education classes and small groups. Prior to coming to Our Savior, Pastor Satran and her husband Kent Annan were most recently living and working in Haiti for Beyond Borders and working with the Federation of Lutheran Churches of Haiti. Beyond Borders is a Christian development organization that focuses on education, literacy, and children's rights. Pastor Shelly's husband continues to work full-time for Beyond Borders and they are grateful to have a foot in both Haiti and Florida through both of their ministries. Pastor Satran is fluent in Haitian Creole. In addition to her experience in Haiti, Pastor Shelly was previously a Pastoral Assistant at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hainesport, New Jersey. Pastor Satran is originally from North Dakota. She graduated from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND, with a Bachelors of Science in Natural Sciences. She then obtained her Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Following her graduation from Princeton Seminary, Pastor Satran spent some time focusing specifically on "Lutheran Studies" and obtained a Masters in Sacred Theology from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. 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 Shelly and her husband Kent have one daughter Simone Satran Annan. |
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