Yesterday’s Lessons for Today’s People
. Recorded July 2020 Sowing God’s Love Matthew 13 That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach.[a] 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he taught them many things by using stories.…
Read Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 with your family. Jesus explained that the different kinds of soil are like the different ways people respond to God’s message. Sometimes we hear something good but forget it quickly. Sometimes we are excited at first, but when life becomes difficult, we give up. Other times, our worries or the things…
Sometimes I think we’ve convinced ourselves that grace is a rare event. We wait for the big miracle, the dramatic answer, or the life-changing moment. We assume that if God is going to show up, it has to be spectacular. But what if we’ve been looking in the wrong places? What if grace is far…
Advent Be Prepared Bible Children Children's Stories Christianity Christmas Disciples Discipleship Easter Faith Forgiveness Healing Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Jesse Tree Jesus Jesus' birth John John the Baptist Justice Lent Love Luke Mark Mary of Bethany Mary of Nazareth Matthew Messiah Palm Sunday Parables Paul Pentecost Peter Podcast Prayer Resurrection Shepherd Teen Time Temple Temptation Thomas Transfiguration Women
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 