President Herbold Update | September 2023

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Read the transcript:

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Hi, everyone.

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September has rolled in once again, bringing with it

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the hustle and bustle of life.

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My socials, or perhaps your socials, have shown us that kids are back in school

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as parents and caregivers proudly take their yearly back to school pictures.

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Ministries are gearing up and our schedules are filling up.

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There is energy. There is excitement.

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I just love the fall.

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So amidst the business of the season, I do want to keep this short and highlight

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a few key important updates with you.

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Firstly, this fall marks the launch

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of our annual mission’s focus, the Jaffray Offering.

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It’s a unique opportunity to collaborate with and shine a spotlight on missions

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in regions where the name of Christ is yet to be known.

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Specifically, we’re partnering with local organizations in South Asia,

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where the need for the gospel is immense.

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94% of the population there has never encountered Jesus, never

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read a Bible, never had the opportunity to meet another follower of Christ.

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To support this work, we’ve done something a little bit different this year

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and that we’ve put together

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a devotional series available for you to sign up to, to download.

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And it’s perfect for your church’s small group.

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You can simply visit

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The Alliance Canada website to receive this weekly devotional series.

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You’ll see the link in the information.

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Please consider sharing this with your small groups, with your life groups, community groups.

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I can’t help but think of the exponential impact of us

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all praying together this October for our brothers and sisters

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in South Asia and those who do not yet know Jesus.

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Secondly, Envision Greenhouse is also

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launching a fall cohort, and though it’s somewhat short notice,

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there are still openings for registration at envisioncanada.org

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This year’s theme revolves around spiritual awakening and provides

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your next-gen leaders in your church an opportunity to grow and receive

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mentoring from our Alliance family across the country.

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Even now, I wonder, is there someone you feel the Spirit is asking you

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to tap on the shoulder and recommend that they consider participating?

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Maybe even right now, the most important thing is for you

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in this moment to stop and send a text message to that person.

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Thirdly, as I love to do.

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Let me share with you

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another inspiring story from a New Venture in Renfrew, Ontario.

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It’s a tale of a couple discerning God’s call.

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Unsure of what it would entail, but taking a leap of faith.

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And they began by extending hospitality and opening their table to others.

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Let’s watch this together.

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Susan and I

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were serving in Thailand, and were returning back to Canada

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to have our first child and in our quiet times of praying,

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we felt the Lord say Renfrew, and we didn’t know where Renfrew was.

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So we Googled where Renfrew was.

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And that’s sort of where that conversation began.

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So Renfrew is,

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I want to say, about 45 minutes north of Ottawa, at least north of Kanata,

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my end of Ottawa and nice little town of 7000 and

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and growing.

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I’m J Williamson and I’m from Stittsville at Proximity Church.

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We started as a New Venture back in 2018.

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I think in 2004 I came to Renfrew, moved there with our young family,

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pastored there for five years, saw some great fruit, loved it,

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and then just felt the call to move into Kanata and church plant.

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And so Renfrew is a great it’s a small town, but

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a lot of great connections and really had a heart

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to see something continue in Renfrew even after we had left.

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So we didn’t really know what this would look like,

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taking this step of faith of moving to Renfrew.

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What we did know is that the Lord wanted us to gather

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people around our dinner table and show hospitality and unashamedly

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say, we’re Christians, would you walk with us?

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In this journey of walking with Jesus?

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We really sense the Lord’s timing on the move and we were

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living in Hamilton and reflecting when, when should we do this?

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And we sense January.

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And we were like so puzzled because who, if they have

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a choice, would move in the winter in Ontario.

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So we got here, we moved in January 24th

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and six weeks later, the first lockdown for COVID started.

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In retrospect, it was really, we could see the Lord’s hand on it.

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We couldn’t have planned it better,

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but in the moment it was a little bit unnerving.

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We were in the process of asking the Lord who we were to partner

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with, what denomination to come alongside, who would, you know,

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sow in to us and see value in what we felt the Lord was doing in our midst.

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And a friend said to me, You should check out the CMA.

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There might be something there.

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So I connected with the CMA and

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immediately felt that there was a good connection.

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And it was through Malcolm at the CMA who said, Hey,

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there’s somebody down in Stittsville who I believe pastored in Renfrew

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and you need to connect with, with J.

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And so we did, and it was a immediate friendship right off the bat.

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I think our first meeting was at Tim Hortons and right away we seemed to hit it off

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and his heart and some of the things

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that I’d been praying about were really starting to line up.

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We knew that the table would be the means

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by which the Lord would build a family here in Renfrew.

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And so that means communion being a very central piece,

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but also the meal where we gather around as a family

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gathering in our home was taking a long time because of COVID

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and people were maybe a little more reserved to go into somebody’s home.

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So we thought, well, is there a space in town?

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And I was perusing the Renfrew website

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and saw that they had rentals available for some of their locations.

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And there was one location that stood out to us, and it was the welcome centre.

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And we thought, well, what?

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Wouldn’t it be neat to rent it?

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Let’s do a test run, let’s rent it and see what it’s like,

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and we’ll just have some prayer and welcome

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Jesus , the Holy Spirit to come to Renfrew.

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Although we know that there’s many, many Christians who have been in this area

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who have been praying for the Lord to move powerfully, we just wanted to do

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it kind of on our watch as well. By word of mouth,

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essentially,

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We just started speaking to people about this new expression.

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I actually did a Facebook post.

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It was an invite.

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If you do not have a spiritual home, we welcome you to come join us.

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And there’s a lot of nerves leading up to it

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that first the first meeting, because we thought, who’s going to show up here?

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We don’t know what this is just going to be our family.

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And we both kind of said to ourselves,

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okay, we are being faithful to what we believe the Lord is asking us to do.

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And if it’s just our family, then we can say we’ve been faithful,

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will engage and create a place of worship and thankfully people showed up.

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One lady came

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and she said she walked into the room, for the first time.

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she felt the love of God. She’d never felt it before.

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She said she felt the love of God.

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And then she, her cousin, the next day

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was talking to her about the experience and she said, When’s the next one?

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When are we going back?

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I feel like there’s so many people longing.

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They just know in their hearts that there’s something more

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and they seek out all the other

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things of this world first

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and realize that it’s still not meeting that longing in their heart.

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And so it’s like they just need that introduction to Jesus.

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And I just I want to see people saved, like

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really want to see our town transformed because it’s possible.

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When I think about being a pastor,

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I think about the guys that I play hockey with in the community realize

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that gifting goes beyond the church walls and we don’t have a building.

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So of course it does.

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But to the guys I play hockey with, to our neighbours

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right now more than ever, there’s an openness

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to different expressions in the body of Christ.

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God is up to something when it comes to new expressions.

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And this new venture, just in a very short

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time, has become a pretty good friend and somebody I can trust.

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He has a ton of wisdom and experience that he brings to the relationship, and

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I am glad that I’m not doing this alone.

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I love that we get to meet at least once a month to be able to sit for coffee

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and to have that relationship to continue to work through this.

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And the plan, our hope at least, is that

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this would multiply through the valley, that there will be

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these places where people are gathering around dinner tables

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and making the fame of Jesus known to their neighbours.

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And we get to invite people into that too, so that to have somebody else

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with that same vision, I mean, it’s incredible.

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Isn’t it so stereotypically

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Canadian that their first church planning meeting took place at a Tim Hortons?

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What I truly admire is their belief that God would build a family in Renfrew.

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They understood that a table, the act of communion and sharing

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a meal would be pivotal in creating a spiritual home and family for people.

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Did you catch what Brent said?

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God is up to something.

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And it’s not just in the outskirts of Ottawa.

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God is at work all across Canada.

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And my hope is that new visitors will leave each of our churches

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saying for the first time I felt the love of God.

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When can we come back?

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God is indeed up to something.

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He’s up to something remarkable in your context.

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Crafting spiritual homes for families.

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As you gather round tables

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in the coming weeks, my prayer is that you’ll sense the presence of Jesus

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and that his fame will be made known to your neighbours.

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Friends, please know that I’m lifting you up in prayer.

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You are deeply cherished.

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I’m profoundly grateful to be labouring alongside each one of you.