Michael Daugherty, Senior Pastor
As the Senior Pastor at Trinity Baptist Church, Michael Daugherty is passionate about making as many disciples as possible by equipping the saints to evangelize unbelievers, baptize believers, and teach everyone to obey God’s Word.
Pastor Michael holds a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas.
He was called to Trinity Baptist Church in September 2023. He previously served as the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Sheridan, Arkansas.
Pastor Michael grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he attended Immanuel Baptist Church. He accepted Christ in first grade, while attending Peggy and Buddy Sutton’s Sunday School Class. Shortly thereafter, he was baptized.
From a young age, Michael was involved in his family’s document imaging business. He credits his business skills and work ethic today to his dad teaching him the business from the ground up. After earning his business degree with a focus on finance, Pastor Michael went to work full-time in the family business and began chasing the “American Dream”.
At the age of 26, Michael realized he didn’t have a deep abiding relationship with God. He found a mentor in Ross Spinger, who began discipling him each Saturday at Shipley’s Donuts. He went through the MasterLife class with Bob Beach. Matt Hubbard, student pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church, also began pouring into him.
“Over the course of the next few years, the Lord literally shut every other door on my ‘American Dream’. In the summer of 2014, I began realizing God was doing something in my life. Several months after giving up a really good paying job, I realized that ‘something’ was full-time ministry. It was either go overseas for two years and then go to seminary, or go to seminary and then go overseas,” Michael said.
In January of 2015, Michael started seminary with the goal of getting a degree in missions.
Michael has had the opportunity to do week-long mission trips to Alaska, Brazil, Russia, the Philippians, and Turkey, but it was the time he spent in Vietnam in June of 2015 that gave him a more realistic picture of what working on the mission field long-term would be like.
“The month-long trip to Vietnam took the ‘glamor’ out of missions. I spent a month in a foreign setting where I didn’t know the language or the people. Basic things such as buying and ordering food or getting directions were stressful. That gave me a more realistic picture of the daily life of a missionary,” Michael said.
In his second year at Southwestern, he recognized God was calling him to pastor a church in America.
“The Lord said to me, ‘If we don’t strengthen the churches in America, we won’t have missionaries around the world,’” Michael recalled.
While at seminary, Michael met his wife, Shara, through their work as interns at Wedgewood Baptist Church.
“She was a youth intern at Wedgewood before I was. I heard about her and her passion for making disciples before I ever met her,” Michael recalled.
The duo married in 2016 and have three sons.
When Michael isn’t working, he enjoys hiking, yard work, and building furniture.
His hope for Trinity Baptist Church is that we will be faithful to God and make as many disciples as possible.
