Yesterday’s Lessons for Today’s People
. Sharing burdens Matthew 11 16 You people are like children sitting in the market and shouting to each other, 17 “We played the flute, but you would not dance!We sang a funeral song, but you would not mourn!” 18 John the Baptist did not go around eating and drinking, and you said, “That man has a demon in him!” 19 But the…
Read Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 with your family. Have you ever carried something that was just too heavy? Maybe it was a backpack full of books, a box that was too big, or even a younger brother or sister! After a while, your arms get tired and you wish someone would help. Jesus knew that people…
Today is Canada Day. Like many Canadians, I’ll enjoy the beauty of this country – the lakes and forests, the communities where neighbours still help one another, and the incredible diversity of people who now call this land home. I am grateful to live in Canada. Gratitude is a good thing. In fact, gratitude is…
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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 