Michael Stanford
Michael has been working at Highland since September 2015 as the Associate Worship Minister. He partners with Jeff Nelson to plan and lead Highland’s weekly worship gatherings, coach and pastor worship team volunteers, and oversee production elements of services, including lighting and audio.
Michael’s call into ministry is a testimony of how the gospel, encountered through music, transformed him from a lost, self-absorbed, skateboarding teenager with little direction in life into a pastor who found his deepest longing for peace, healing, identity, and restoration in Jesus Christ. Michael believes that singing worship as the body of Christ is one of the most powerful tools God uses to transform us, as it did for him. He is passionate about creating meaningful spaces of worship where everyone can encounter Jesus and leave transformed.
Michael is originally from Nashville, TN. He and his wife, Kelsey, have been married since 2020. Michael enjoys traveling and hiking with his wife, reading books, listening to podcasts/music, engaging in meaningful conversations over coffee, and cheering for the Tennessee Titans and Seminoles of FSU.