Seoul: The Early Years

Young Kang was born on April 7, 1975, in Seoul, South Korea, the first-born son of his family. He grew up alongside a younger brother and sister — both of whom would eventually settle in Sydney, Australia, while their parents retired in Korea. Young was the first person in his family to attend college and, in time, the first to become a Christian. By 1993, at the age of eighteen, he had earned a Judo Black Belt — an early sign of the discipline that would mark his adult life.

Fighter Pilot: Duty, Discipline, and Service

Young entered the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy and graduated in 1997 with a B.A. in Foreign Languages. He was commissioned as an officer and trained as a fighter jet pilot, eventually flying F-5 aircraft as a Captain. In 1999, he earned his Commercial Pilot License. During his years of service, he lost close colleagues to training accidents. In time, he left the Air Force to pursue a different path.

Marriage, Seminary, and the Years Between

On September 22, 2001, Young married Hyunkyoung Ahn. After leaving the military, he enrolled in a theological seminary in Korea, but after one year he stepped back. For the next seven years he worked as a teacher and a youth pastor, serving faithfully in roles that kept him connected to the church without committing to a formal ministerial path. Their daughter Sophia was born in 2005, and their son Eugene followed in 2007.

The Call to Leave: America

In the winter of 2009, Young felt called to leave Korea for a place he did not know. Friends who had settled in El Paso, Texas, provided the only concrete link to the unknown. On March 9, 2010, the family boarded a plane and left everything behind — career, extended family, social standing, and the only country they had ever known.

Rebuilding: Education in America

Young enrolled at El Paso Community College and earned his Associate of Arts degree in 2013. From there, he transferred to New Mexico State University, where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, graduating in 2015 with Dean’s Honors and the Hedden Scholarship. During these years, he also served as Worship Director at El Paso Korean United Methodist Church from 2011 to 2015.

Yale Divinity School

In 2016, Young was accepted to Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut, on the William R. Cannon Scholarship. At Yale, he completed Clinical Pastoral Education at Yale New Haven Hospital in 2018, served as youth pastor at Connecticut Goodness Korean Methodist Church in Glastonbury, and as children’s service preacher at Higganum United Methodist Church. He earned his Master of Divinity in 2019.

Pastoral Ministry: Alpine, Marfa, and the Big Bend

After graduating from Yale, Young received his first solo pastoral appointment: First United Methodist Church in Alpine and First United Methodist Church in Marfa, Texas — small, rural congregations in the remote Big Bend region of West Texas. He served those communities before being called to his current appointment in 2021.

Trinity UMC, Roswell, New Mexico

In 2021, Young was appointed to Trinity United Methodist Church in Roswell, New Mexico, where he was fully ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. His ministerial focus centers on building up a vibrant youth ministry, nurturing children’s ministry, leading substantive Bible study, redesigning worship for today’s congregation, and cultivating a choir-based music ministry that brings generations together — alongside modernizing how churches communicate and fostering deeper community engagement.

The Kang Family

Hyunkyoung has been Young’s partner through every transition — from Seoul to El Paso to New Haven to the Big Bend to Roswell. Sophia and Eugene, now young adults, have grown up in the rhythm of parsonage life. Young’s parents are retired in Korea; his brother and sister live in Sydney, Australia. The Kang family is a global family, scattered across three continents, held together by bonds that distance has tested but not broken.

A Life Still Unfolding

Young continues to serve in Roswell with his family, grateful for every chapter of a life that has been anything but predictable.