In 1994, Skinner began working on child advocacy projects in California and Mississippi, resulting in an extensive research project in the state of Mississippi. Skinner wrote two books documenting his research surrounding the cultural, sociological and spiritual causes of violence in Mississippi with a specific focus on the civil rights era. That same year, Skinner began working with the Racial Reconciliation department of the national men’s movement called Promise Keepers.
Skinner began serving in Mississippi in 1996, traveling over 100,000 miles over the next three years working on civil rights cases that remained unprosecuted from the Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 1960s. As a part of the collaborative effort of multiple state-wide prayer and mobilization groups, Skinner introduced the Five Phase Transformation Model and the Four R’s of Community Transformation. Noted organizations such as Mission Mississippi, Mississippi Prayer Network, and Women’s Aglow worked with Skinner so that by the year 2000 more than 12 men were indicted and imprisoned for infamous civil rights cases. Skinner became a regularly invited speaker at the National Juneteenth Celebration in Washington, D.C. He also served with noted civil rights leaders Dr. Mark Pollard and Dr. Ron Meyers and led advocacy groups for the federal lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) by black farmers.
During the 1997 period of African-American church burnings in the Deep South, Skinner served with the leaders of five major non-profit groups to disburse more than $1 million in funds to rebuild the church ruins. Among the groups Skinner collaborated with were World Vision, World Relief, Promise Keepers, and the National Criminal Justice Task Force.