Beau and Barbara have lived in the Santa Ynez Valley since 1995 when it became prohibitively expensive to live in Santa Barbara.

Beau grew up in Santa Barbara with his Mom, Dad and older sister.  He graduated from Santa Barbara High and attended Santa Barbara City College to study marine technology.  Beau’s Mom has always gone to a Christian church in Santa Barbara, the same church she took the children to when they were young. Beau’s Dad has never subscribed to anything about Christianity. He would attend church with the family every now and again, but would spend the rest of the day arguing that what the minister said couldn’t possibly be true.  But the Lord had His hand on Beau.  Beau’s grandfather on his Mom’s side was a faithful believer, as was his grandmother.  Despite the fact that Beau’s mother never gained a strong understanding of the gospel, and that her lack of knowledge of the things of the Lord after so many years in the church continually surprises and concerns Beau, his grandfather’s steadfast and faithful walk as a true believer had a lasting impact upon the young Beau.  As Beau remembers, “A seed was planted there that made me think that I wanted to know what my grandfather was so devoted to – I had an underlying feeling that there had to be more.”  After years of slowly growing in his understanding of the Lord, Beau received Christ as his personal savior in 1996, a few months after coming to Community Church.  Shortly thereafter, Beau was baptized along with his lovely wife Barbara, whom he met in his mid-thirties after responding to an ad in the Santa Barbara Independent placed by 30 year old Barbara.  Beau and Barbara laugh that they were always meant to be together!  Beau’s parents’ best friends of Barbara’s parents, and Barbara’s Mom worked at the daycare where Beau used to go.  The Sudduths even have an old newspaper clipping of Beau graduating from Santa Barbara City College and standing right behind him happens to be Barbara’s Mom, having just completed a piece of her education as well!  

Like Beau, Barbara was born and raised in Santa Barbara.  She has great memories of playing at Hendry’s Beach, swimming in the family pool, and riding the family’s horses with her two older sisters.  She has a  third

older sister who had already left home by the time Barbara was born. Barbara’s parents were strict Catholics and put their older girls through the sacraments of Communion and Confirmation.  By the time Barbara came

along, however, they had stopped attending church regularly.  Barbara would occasionally attend the Santa Barbara Mission with her girlfriends. She knew the Ten Commandments by heart, and the basics of her religion

but, like Beau, she did not have a personal relationship with her Savior, Jesus Christ until she moved to the Santa Ynez Valley and visited Community Church of the Santa Ynez Valley after an invitation from her dear friend, Lisa Schaeffer.  Both of Barbara’s parents are gone now, but Barbara feels certain that they came to the Lord before they passed away and prays that her sisters will come to know the Lord as well.

Barbara works hard pet sitting and representing Isagenix, a program which she credits for her better health and recent weight loss.  Beau is permanently disabled, but is stable and grateful for the health he does have.  The Sudduth’s 20 year old daughter, Heather, is still living at home, working as a babysitter and helping with Barbara’s pet sitting business.  Beau has two older sons that the family holds up in prayer, that they will turn from the Muslim religion of their mother and experience true salvation.  Richard is 29 and works at Milpas Rental in Santa Barbara.  32 year old Sohail has recently returned to Santa Barbara to look for work after finishing ophthalmology school.

These days, the Sudduths say that the Lord is teaching them patience.  Barbara meditates on Colossians 3:12:  “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  Beau is enjoying his dear wife Barbara’s growth in the Lord as she studies Revelations and the end times.  He says her study is ministering to them both!  In his quiet times, the Lord has been teaching Beau about God’s intentions for believers.  As he states, “Christians can often wrap themselves in a cloak of meekness and obedience like sheep, which we certainly are supposed to be, but we must remember that God is powerful, so powerful that we’ll always be sheep to him.  But He has endowed His sheep with a power that is far greater than our understanding, and a spiritual energy to do great things in Him.”  As Beau says, “With the power of Christ within us, we ought to be the opposite of meek in many areas of our life.  We ought to be bold and powerful, full of strength and energy and faith to accomplish His will in the world around us.”

Interviewed by Anjie Park