Over the next few weeks, our Chinook Winds Regional Executive members are introducing themselves. This week, it’s Taylor Croissant.

Hi, my name is Taylor Croissant, and I am an ordained minister currently serving at Southminster United Church in Lethbridge, Alberta. I joined the Regional Council Executive in 2022.
 
Growing up in Medicine Hat, I was sponsored as a candidate for ministry by my home congregation, Westminster United Church when I was only 19 years old. Today I’m in my late thirties, which is still relatively young in United Church circles, but due to having been accountable to the courts of the church for nearly twenty years, I feel a bit like an “old hand.”
 
I have a B.A. in Political Studies and studied for my M.Div at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon.  In my final year before internship, I was sent by St. Andrew’s on an exchange semester to our partner seminary in South Korea. I was thankful to be guided in my travels by one of the Korean students who came to St. Andrew’s the previous year. Today, I am married to that person, Rev. MiYeon Kim, who now serves Fort Macleod-Granum Pastoral Charge.
 
I was ordained in 2014 by Alberta & Northwest Conference, and have served churches in Two Hills AB, Seoul, South Korea, Kitscoty AB, and Lethbridge. Recently, I was the editor of the United Church’s newest book for use in confirmation and new membership classes, Building God’s Beloved Community (UCPH. 2022).
 
I was invited to join the executive following my work as the chair of the business committee at last year’s Chinook Winds annual meeting, as our Executive Minister felt it would be helpful to have the person doing this role also serve the regional executive.
 
My hopes for the Regional Council as a whole are to decrease feelings of atomization and encourage greater connection between congregations and between ministry colleagues, as well as to plant seeds of revitalization and growth for our churches rooted in biblical faith.
 
Fun fact: MiYeon and I have a nephew who is a prospect for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.