Yesterday’s Lessons for Today’s People
Born Anew John 3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Very…
Read John 3:1-17 with your family. This week we meet Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, which meant he worked at the Temple in Jerusalem and he was surrounded by others who looked at Jesus with a great deal of suspicion and anger. However, Nicodemus was curious. He wanted to understand what Jesus was talking about.…
Week One: Before There Were Walls This week we asked a slightly dangerous question: What did church look like before it had buildings, budgets, and bulletins? Acts 2 gives us a glimpse – people devoted to teaching, eating together, praying, sharing resources, and actually knowing one another. It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t scheduled into neat 60…
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Pastor… Storyteller… Presider… Teacher… Professional Question-Asker…
Deborah Suddard has spent more than three decades walking with people through faith, doubt, joy, grief, love, loss, and all the messy, beautiful in-between. She’s a pastor, teacher, preacher, writer, and officiant – but if you ask her, she’s really just someone who keeps asking better questions about God and inviting others to do the same.
Deborah believes the Gospel is far too alive to be locked inside tidy theology or church walls. As The Barefoot Evangelist, she digs into Scripture the way it was meant to be read – rooted in history, culture, and lived experience – so we can hear what Jesus was actually saying, not just what we’ve been told He said. Sometimes that’s comforting. Sometimes it’s disruptive. And honestly, it’s usually both.
Her ministry is built on one simple, stubborn conviction: love is bigger than fear, and grace is bigger than rules. Deborah teaches a Christianity that is thoughtful, grounded, and deeply human – a faith that makes room for questions, laughter, protest, and hope all at once.
Alongside her theological work, Deborah also serves in Eastern Ontario as an officiant creating and leading weddings, funerals, and rites of passage that feel honest, meaningful, and deeply respectful. Whether the setting is a church, a forest, a living room, or a windswept shoreline, her ceremonies are crafted to honour the sacredness of love, memory, and transition – without pretending that life is ever neat or predictable.
What ties it all together is this:
Deborah shows up where people are.
Not where they “should” be.
Not where religion says they belong.
Where they actually are.
She walks with couples into commitment, families through grief, seekers through doubt, and communities through change – with compassion, wit, and a faith that isn’t afraid to get its feet dirty.
If you’re looking for someone who will take God seriously but not use God as a weapon…
If you believe church should feel more like a table than a courtroom…
If you’re hungry for something truer than easy answers…
You’re in the right place.
Welcome!
The Barefoot Evangelist 