Welcome.

Sermon Archive of
Rev. James Lamar Skinner

1932-2022

Veteran Louisiana pastor, 55 years

ABOUT AWayHome.blog:
After a stressful church meeting one night, years ago, Dad came back and said, “Coming home is like a two-week vacation.” He was warm, funny, and ever hopeful, a “my-glass-is-overflowing” kind of person, and this blog is his family’s gift of appreciation for the way he lived out that hope among us and everyone he met. His hopefulness was expressed in the scripture that shaped his life and ministry, from John 12:21, “We would see Jesus.”

We, his wife Ann and daughters Fritha and Rhonda, hope that this amateur archive will help you on your spiritual journey and in your service to the cause of Christ.

Some posts have links to source documents. They are there to help. At this time they do not generate revenue.

Fritha Skinner Dinwiddie

My father, James Lamar Skinner, had his final illness in late 2021. He died at the age of 89. It was the honor of my life to be his daughter. I am transcribing his sermons electronically to secure my memory of this kind and gentle pastor and father. Whether it is a way to exorcise the demons of grief or to experience his presence—his parousia—in the thin places, I do not know.  What I do know is that it satisfies my need to relive his life and ministry, by peeking inside his mind, as he interprets and offers his message to “my people,” as he called his church members.  How many sons and daughters have that opportunity? I hope he would be pleased.

Disclaimer: Note from the transcriber: Dad’s spelling was pretty bad. Writing by hand and later on a typewriter, he wrote at times in consonants or unique abbreviations to trigger his recall, other times he just didn’t bother to check a dictionary. (In the first 100 entries, I never saw the word “repentance” spelled correctly!) My best guess is that it never occurred to him that his sermons would outlive him, which is the goal of this blog. I did correct the spelling, but most else is unaltered. His sentence structure and punctuation reflect his cadence and his delivery style. The Greek was hard, and I have had the gracious help of Daniel Hutto (daniel@upwardlook.org), a family friend and expert in ancient languages. Childhood friends Nancy K. Abrusley encouraged and Judy Jay Green and Sally Jay proofread. Justin Wright is webmaster. All errors are mine. F. Dinwiddie