About Cruciform Hope

If you’ve ever sat in a church pew feeling like your life was falling apart but everyone around you had it together, this is for you.

Cruciform Hope exists at the intersection of Christian theology and mental health. Not the pop-psychology version. Not the “just pray harder” version. The honest, pastorally grounded kind that takes both the suffering and the gospel seriously.

Who writes this

I’m Mike Skinner, pastor-theologian, chaplain, and writer.

I hold an M.A. in Theological Studies with degrees in Biblical Languages and Christian Theology, and I’ve spent over 15 years in pastoral ministry sitting with people in their hardest moments. But this isn’t just academic for me.

I’ve lived with anxiety since my teenage years. Panic attacks, agoraphobia, treatment-resistant depression, ADHD. I’ve been through the full gauntlet of medications, therapy, and alternative treatments and I still live with it today. Most days it’s manageable. Some days it’s a real fight.

What I’ve learned through all of it is that the church doesn’t always know what to do with people like me, and that the gospel is actually far better news for the suffering than we often let on.

I write the way I approach ministry: theologically rooted, personally honest, and always returning to the cross as the place where real hope is found. I’ve yet to meet a problem that a shallow answer helped.

I live in the Houston, Texas area with my wife and young daughter, who both bring me more love and joy than any man deserves.

What you’ll find here

Reflections on anxiety, grief, burnout, doubt, and the life of faith, written for people who are weary but haven't given up, and for the pastors and caregivers walking alongside them. Some pieces are pastoral and personal. Others go deeper into theology, psychology, and neuroscience, because understanding how God made us matters for how we care for one another.

Cruciform Hope Ministries is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Learn more at cruciformhope.org.
Deep Reflections. Honest Hope. The good news of Jesus for the anxious and weary