Sermons, chapel messages, and workshops for churches, schools, camps, and retreats, across the U.S. and as far as Kenya, for audiences from middle schoolers to school faculty. I speak across the whole Christian story, and often on faith and mental health. Twelve years in the pulpit and fifteen years in the classroom keep the content serious. My own history with panic disorder, anxiety, and depression keeps it honest.
“I have heard hundreds of public speakers present on a wide range of topics… Mike Skinner is one of the best public speakers I have ever encountered.”
Talks
Churches: sermon series, retreats
A walk through the Gospel of Mark. When Jesus arrives, God is taking back a creation held captive by sin and death: healing the sick, eating with outsiders, confronting power, and going to the cross. Works as a full series or a weekend.
Your people see what Jesus came to take back, and find out it includes them.
Churches, leadership teams, communion Sundays
Next to the cross, the open table may be the most enduring picture of the Christian faith: Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, the risen Christ known in the breaking of bread, and the Lord’s Supper at the center of a church with open doors.
Churches leave asking who isn’t at their table yet.
Churches: sermon series, adult education
The Apostles’ Creed as a doorway into Scripture, not a replacement for it: the Father, the incarnation, the cross, Holy Saturday, the church, and eternity. Most Christians have never been given the words to explain the God they meet in Jesus. This series gives them some.
Your people gain words for what they believe, and why it matters.
Churches, small groups, adult education
The Beatitudes are not assignments. They are announcements. Jesus pronounces grace over people who are already weary and anxious, before they get better, not after.
Your people hear that a diagnosis is not a verdict on their faith.
Pastors, elders, ministry teams
Spiritually mature and yet emotionally repressed. Pastoral care for the leaders who carry everyone else’s pain and are rarely carried themselves. Practical, theological, and honest about the cost of the work.
Leaders get honest language for their own limits, and permission to need care.
Students: chapels, camps, retreats, D‑Nows
We were made to orbit the sun, not to try to be the sun. On pressure, anxiety, and the exhausting job of being the main character of your own life, and the relief of finding out Jesus already has the center.
Students leave lighter than they came in.
Keynote, retreat, or sermon series
The fuller vision behind all of it: hope that has the shape of the cross. The crucified and risen Jesus does not skip the grave. He goes through it, and he is the only honest place to put our hope. Built for retreats, Holy Week, and multi-session events.
Ask about this seriesEvery talk is built for the room it's given in. If your event needs something adjacent, ask.
Why I tell stories when I preach
Sunday pulpits, youth retreats of hundreds of students, Christian school chapels and faculty retreats, a Christian education symposium, a university lecture series, public panels and debates, and a theological college in Kenya. Add to it twelve years in my own pulpit and chapel for more than six hundred high schoolers.
Honoraria are scaled to the setting. Reduced rates and pro bono availability exist for small churches and under-resourced ministries. Cost should never be the reason this work does not reach your people.
Whether he is speaking to students or adults, Mike is gifted at presenting profound truths in a way that is relevant and applicable. I think it’s the way that Mike seasons his preaching with humor and vulnerability that makes him so relatable.
He tells a story in such a way that you feel like you are a part of it… You do not feel as though you are being lectured to. You feel like a trusted advisor is helping you to find the path.
If you are looking for a high energy, dynamic and inspiring speaker for your next event, I highly recommend Mike Skinner… I was completely impressed with him and welcome him back anytime!
Tell me about your context, your audience, and the dates you're considering.