The Barefoot Evangelist

Yesterday’s Lessons for Today’s People

Reflections & Stories

Lenten Study 2026 – Week 3

Week Three: The Table Within The Meal Lent invites us to slow down, reflect, and pay closer attention to the presence of God in the ordinary moments of our lives. Through our Church Without Walls Lenten Study, we explore how faith is not only expressed in worship services, but in the simple rhythms of daily living…

Sunday Reflection – Lent III, March 8, 2026

Born Anew John 4 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to…

Kids Korner: Lent III – Woman at the well (March 8th)

Read John 4:5-42 with your family. This week we meet a woman at a well. She isn’t famous, and we don’t even know her name, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t important! Jesus talks with her in a way that surprises everyone: he listens, asks questions, and invites her into something bigger than she’s seen…

About Debb, the Barefoot Evangelist

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!