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Attractional Model or Apostolic Model |
 We have been looking at the way we build churches and the way Jesus
builds His Church. There is a vast difference. If need be – go back to
previous editions of Apostle's Presective and have a look at what we have been
discussing together these last few weeks. Today, let’s take a look at
the traditional way we have almost always worked – seeing the lost saved
and beginning a church with them.
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Formation of Biblical Community |
 We have been looking at how Jesus worked in engaging the culture in
which He found Himself when born as a man and dwelling among us. It is
time to move on to His second stage of creating the first church and
thus the model for the Church that He is building today. After engaging
His culture and even while continuing to do so He began to form
community. This is the second step in what the Lord is doing today in
His Church as well as what we must do when planting the Gospel in any
new community.
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What Every Disciple Needs |
 Every disciple of the Lord needs to have two key people in their lives.
First, they need someone who is helping them to grow and mature as a
believer and follower of the Lord. There are four stages of growth -
discipling, training, equipping and mentoring. Every disciple,
regardless of the stage, needs to find someone to help them grow. You
need to find someone and enter into a covenant with them where you will
meet with them and they can guide and direct you in your walk with
Jesus. It is possible to have more than one “mentor” at a time - but
everyone needs at least one.
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Engaging the Culture – Part Two |
 Last time we were talking about the need to engage the culture and build
relationships with those that we are wanting to reach for Jesus today.
As we do this we have a great need for a lot of patience. We may want an
instant or microwave result and see the local church grow quickly as our
evangelistic efforts bear much fruit. But, this is seldom the case.
Much time, effort, energy, and prayer must first go into building solid
and healthy relationships with people and with the community before we
will see any return on our investment.
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And the Lord Would Say... |
 “And the Lord would say” are very powerful words to speak. I say those
words many times a day both when overseas and at home as I minister
prophetically on a daily basis. I teach many people in numerous nations
to prophesy as well. This is my main task as an apostle - to equip the
saints of the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12) and raise up the
next generation of young apostles. Anatoli is one excellent example of
that as he made amazing progress flowing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit
in just three short days.
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We are to Seek and Save the Lost |
 God has given to us some marvelous gifts. The most important and most precious is the gift of salvation as found only in Jesus. As well, we have the gifts of the Holy Spirit that allow us to minister supernaturally to those who do not know God and thus help them to come to know their heavenly Father.
God has also invited each of us to become personally involved in His work - the task He sent Jesus to begin and created the Church to continue and complete - seeking and saving the lost.
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 Written while in Russia...
It has been an awesome 7 days with God’s presence and His power very
much on display for all to see. And there has been a sense of His peace
in each and every place we have been honored to minister - airports,
back seat of cars, homes, and during the services.
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THE message of the Church |
 God sent His Son to “seek and save the lost” and He died on the cross to
do just that. His death and resurrection have made a way where there
was no way. Only through the shed blood of Jesus can we find forgiveness
and experience the love and acceptance of God. Only in Jesus can we
have the assurance of a place reserved for us in Heaven so that when we
die we will immediately be with Him forever.
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Discipleship, Discipleship, Discipleship! |
 Every believer needs to be discipled. Each one of us needs someone to
encourage us, teach us, share our life with us, hold us accountable,
lead us, and generally help us to grow and mature and become all that
God wants us to be and then do all that He wants us to do for Him.
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Engage Your Culture – Building Relationships |
 One of the most profound things about Jesus which is often overlooked is
that He hung around for 30 years without planting a church or starting a small group. He was just there living a regular life. Though He was labelled a friend of sinners during His normal period of ministry for hanging out with certain groups of people, the truth is that Jesus spent His entire life becoming friends with sinners. He knew His cultural and societal context by name and face. This is what it means to be incarnational.
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The Apostolic Flow – Part One |
 Often when considering a church plant those
involved do one of two things. They either announce that they are starting a
church and advertise this fact thus attracting disconnected and often
disgruntled believers together to form the base of the new work. Or, they send
out a launch team from a local church comprised of a few families willing to do
what it takes to begin a new work. Either way you are beginning a church with a
church.
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Back to the Basics – a Seriously and Desperate Need |
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 Around the world leaders are coming to
realize that they are being asked by the Holy Spirit to go back to the basics –
and, as they do, they are realizing that they must go even more basic than they
first though “basic” would be.
In a recent unscheduled supper conversation
in an airport in Moscow I was speaking with 2 leaders of a very large network
of churches that is being shaken to its foundations by the Holy Spirit. These
two key leaders and I have had numerous conversations over the last 18 months about
“the basic” and it was evident that they had just had a major revelation of how
basic “the basics” can really be.
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 So, where is the power? That’s a question I am often asked. It’s a good question. Here is a
better one: Why is it that many disciples seem to be missing power in
their lives and yet others apparently walk in it every day? Why do some
see miracles, signs and wonders and move in supernatural power and
others don’t? Is God playing favorites or has He just generally turned
the switch to “off” in some locations?
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 It is important to understand that in the change that Jesus is bringing
to His Church we will see an apostolic presence in each and every church
that He is building. This does not mean each local church will have a
resident apostle as there are simply not yet that many trained and
released. However, each will have an "apostolic presence" where apostles
have influence and input by remaining in good relationships with the
elders that are in place.
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 One of the things we need to come to understand in this current season
of shaking going on in the Church is the idea of being "missional."
Missional is not a form of church. It is a label we give to the
qualitative or descriptive aspect of how a church actually lives. It is
about how much like Jesus the people of the Church become and how muck
they influence, woo, and transform the culture in which they are placed.
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 I believe that God is building expectation into the hearts and lives of true disciples. Those who are hungry for God and want to be involved in whatever He is doing today, regardless of the personal cost, are sensing an excitement and deep expectation. Something is happening and we sense it. As the shaking continues so that all manmade religious and traditional junk is shaken loose and removed – God is beginning to plant expectation, anticipation, even excitement into the hearts of His people.
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 Someone once said, “In the absence of vision, pettiness prevails.” In
other words, when someone is bored, he or she will start critiquing,
judging, making problems and consuming time. Often they will go out for
coffee with others who also lack vision and are doing nothing and
together they will build mountains out of molehills. Apparently they
have nothing better to do with their time and energy because they have
no vision as to what the Lord is doing and thus what should be
important.
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 God is looking for a people who are hungry for more of Him; people who
are not satisfied with what is and want more. He is looking for people
who will pay the price to have more - whatever it might be.
He is not looking for people who have all the answers and are
self-reliant and have it made, so-to-speak. He is looking for those who
are humble, hungry and willing to do whatever it takes to know Him more
and become more like Him. Recently in Russia at a rehab center where
many are living with nothing but the clothes they are wearing and hope -
I was amazed at the hunger of those involved in 3 days of Bible
teaching and training. Coffee breaks, meals, before and after sessions …
these young men and women were looking for more.
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Thankful for the Little Things |
 This strange looking box with two barrels on top is a shower - actually two showers at a rehab center in Russia. Here in summer and winter men who have been set free from addictions by Jesus take their daily shower. Some times the water is warm and sometimes it is not as it is solar heated and only becomes warm when the sun is out and the weather is warm.
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 We are in a season when the expression of
church in North America, and indeed maybe around the world, is undergoing
change, major change. For years the Church has been a stable and secure place
to come and be taught God’s Word and enjoy both fellowship and safety, security
and, in many ways, comfort. It has not been a place where believers have been
challenged and asked to be seriously committed to the work of the Kingdom. This
is changing. God is continuing to bless our gathering together even before He brings
major change – but He is adding the scattering to minister and witness aspect
to our assemblies.
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Transformational Christians |
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 God today is looking for transformational Christians - disciples
who are channged and charged on a daily basis and who want to change the
world. Changing the world has always been Jesus' intention and He does
so by changing the hearts of people one at a time as His people walk in
power by obeying the Great Commission and going into their daily world
giving hope to the people they meet - the same hope that is in their
lives and that makes them attractive and different.
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Discipling, Training, Equipping, and Mentoring |
 We have a tremendous team of leaders at The Sanctuary Church, where I am an Apostolic Leader, who work hard daily to make this local church one of the best in Canada. A good number of the leaders I work with have been through over a decade of intense weekly discipling, training, equipping and are now well into the mentoring process where they work one-on-one with me, meeting with me weekly as well as working directly with me in the ministry here at your church. Each is planning to be a part of an apostolic overseas trip as soon as possible as well - as they continue to grow and become involved in the wider Kingdom. When I am not here I know the work of the ministry will continue and be of the highest quality.
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Involved and Hectic Lives |
 We all live very involved and hectic lives. Most people today are busier
than they really want to be and so find little quality time to be by
themselves and reflect on what is happening in their life and in their
own heart. Quiet and times of solitude are rare indeed and for many are a
thing of the past.
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 It is amazing what God is doing in all of the nations of the world. He
is moving in similar ways and is seriously implementing His apostolic
plans for the Church that He is building. No matter what the leader’s
‘religious’ background if he is hungry for God then God moves on him and
His church bringing them into His plans and purposes for the times and
the season we are in.
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There's No Place Like Home |
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I have done a great deal of travelling in the past two weeks. I have
travelled many miles by plane, train and car. I have spend days in
transit moving from one country to another and from one city to another
including my first 20 hour train ride on the famous Trans-Siberian
Railroad.
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 Over
the years that I have been involved in the Church if a person felt
“called to the ministry” they went either to Bible school or seminary to
prepare for the work of the ministry. And, of course, often the only
ministry that was available for them to take upon themselves when they
graduated was that of a pastor.
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 If a church is going to make the changes necessary to walk into the
future that Jesus is creating for His people then it will need the right
type of leadership. Leadership is the key to change and moving into
God’s future and leaders are essential for a proper transition in this
season of shaking and change. There are the right leaders and then there
are leaders whose leadership style simply won’t enable to transition
needed ... Let’s look at a few and see if they are suitable for the call
of God upon His people today.
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Transformational Disciples Part 3 |
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 We
are looking at Transformational Disciples. And we have seen that there
are three types: Adaptive, Breakthrough, and Apostolic. Last time we
looked at the first two and today we will briefly look at the Apostolic
type of the Transformational Disciple that Jesus is raising up.
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Transformational Disciples Part 2 |
 God is looking for Transformational Disciples and He is finding them
in nation after nation around the world. Often they are very young in
their mid-teens to early twenties but God looks at their hearts and sees
loyal disciples who believe in the cause of the Kingdom and draws them
to Himself. These Transformational Disciples fall into three categories:
Adaptive, breakthrough, and apostolic. All three categories have the
common traits we looked at last time.
Let’s look at each one separately and see what we find.
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 The Church is being shaken by the Lord and all non-essentials are being removed. All religious and historical junk is being removed (Hebrews 12:25-27 The Message Version). All that is now in His Church that is not of the Lord will be revealed and removed - removed and destroyed. This is to allow the bare essentials to remain and to be seen.
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 Ralph Howe Ministries recognizes that every member is a minister and all
disciples of the Lord have a call upon their lives to bring the power
of the Gospel to others. We also recognize that in ministry there are
three types of people… Those who watch it happen, those who make it
happen and those who wonder what happened.
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 Jesus said that we, as His disciples, are to follow Him and He would
make us into soul winners. Jesus said that His disciples, as soul
winners, are to go into all the world and reproduce - make more
disciples. In fact, His command is to go into every nation (really
ethnic and language group) for the purpose of planting the Gospel of the
Kingdom so that He can build His Church. This is not an option but is
literally the only reason the Church as an community of faith exists.
This is our mandate as the true Church that Jesus is building.
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Transformational Disciples |
 Around the world there is an emerging group
of true believers in the Lord Jesus. These are men and women, often young, who
are what I call “Transformational Disciples.” They are the ones who are rising
to the challenge of “going into all the world and making disciples...” They are
demonstrating the Great Commandment to love God with your total being by
carrying out the Great Commission. After all, Jesus said that if we love Him we
will obey Him and He was the One who sent His disciples into the world to seek
and save the lost.
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 One of the great heresies experienced by
Christianity is the unwritten belief that the call of God is reserved mostly
for the “clergy.” When I felt called into the ministry – it was assumed that
most people who felt called would enter some form of full-time Christian
service. This usually meant that they would become a pastor or priest because
this was the only form of “ministry” available in most religious structures.
Very few people or leaders understood that every disciple of the Lord is called
to full-time ministry – most working out that ministry where He has called them
to earn a living – in the marketplace. Everyone just understood that “real”
ministry belonged to the ‘paid professionals.’
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 The way people communicate today is changing rapidly. I have personally
seen major changes in my life. Recently I realized that I seldom talk
on my cell phone and that it has become “text message central” in my
life. As well, I don’t believe I have answered a land line in over a
year. The way we connect with others has seriously changed .
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 We are called, as disciples of the Lord, to become FISHERS OF MEN. This
is not an option open to us where we can accept or decline the offer.
This is a fact of being a disciple. Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will
make you a fisher of men.” If we are not fishing then we are not
following. Plain and simple.
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The Experience That Changes Everything |
 Hearing and answering a call from God is the most awesome, life-changing
moment a human being ever experiences. No one is ever the same again.
Not only is the person changed, but also the way that person goes about
exercising his or her faith undergoes radical transformation. And,
every disciple of the Lord is called to ministry. Every disciple has a
ministry that God has planned for them since before they were saved.
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 As Jesus was facing His own death by crucifixion He withdrew to pray.
This “High Priestly Prayer” or, in my mind, the real “Lord’s Prayer” is
found in John 17. You simply cannot ignore it if you want to understand
how to survive and even thrive in these times of change as Jesus shakes
and removes everything that is hindering His life from flowing and
transforming lives.
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Transformational Christians |
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God today is looking for tranformational Christians - disciples who are
channged and charged on a daily basis and who want to change the world.
Changing the world has always been Jesus' intention and He does so by
changing the hearts of people one at a time as His people walk in power
by obeying the Great Commission and going into their daily world giving
hope to the people they meet - the same hope that is in their lives and
that makes them attractive and different.
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Are you in the Priesthood? |
 The Bible talks about “the priesthood of all believers” and makes no
division between clergy and laity. We are all ministers of the Gospel,
ambassadors of the Lord Jesus, and empowered to walk supernaturally in
the wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Everywhere I go I
disciple, train and equip believers - young and old - to minister to
one another. This is the work of an apostle. I focus on teaching them
to speak the heart of God to others - both saved and unsaved - because
prophecy changes people’s lives permanently. Even praying for the sick
is done prophetically.
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 Listening intently to the teaching of God’s Word with hearts open and
ready to obey - this couple heard the Lord speak to them and tell them
that they were to move. Both have jobs in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They have
just finished building a beautiful home and moving in. Thy have three
young children. Thy speak little to no English. But, as seen here at a
leadership school they are hungry to hear and obey. They have open and
ready hearts. Open to hearing God and ready to obey.
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 One of the major changes we will see in the Church around the world in
the near future comes directly from the teachings and example of the
Head of the Church – Jesus Christ Himself.
Today, leaders in churches spend their time doing so many different
things and need to, therefore, be good at doing a variety of very
different ministries. Jesus, on the other hand, spent the bulk of His
time doing two things with His disciples – modeling faith and equipping
them to be true disciples and thus to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Everyone is called to ministry and Jesus saw ministry and thus the role
of every disciple to be that of radically transforming the hearts and
minds of people. There are two classic texts explaining this view of
ministry – Matthew 28:18-19 and John 21:16
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Stop Making Things Complicated |
 The Christian faith is fairly simple and straightforward. In my mind we
often complicate things way too much and too often. Religion is
complicated; the Christian faith is simple - profound, deep, often
difficult, but simple.
Here is what I mean… for me, loving God means loving people, and loving people means making a difference for God.
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Have You Exercised Lately? |
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 Too many Christians are so busy
with life and, yes, even with ministry, that they don’t take time to
develop their spiritual life. This is a fatal mistake because you can’t
give what you don’t have. So, if you are not a strong Christian –
you will not be able to help others become strong as believers. If you
are not alive – others you help won’t come alive. If you are not an
active and dynamic disciple of the Lord you will not be able to “go into
all the world and make (active and dynamic) disciples.
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Your Attitude Makes a Difference |
 A long time ago I learned from one of my mentors that attitude makes a
big difference in life. He taught me that my attitude towards life,
although shaped by many different aspects in my past, my current
situation in life, as well my hope for the future - really boiled down
to a choice I needed to make on a daily basis.
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Power from the Holy Spirit |
 God has given us power - His power when the Holy Spirit came upon us and
we were baptized in the Holy Spirit and received the gifts of private
tongues and prophecy. Power to do as He calls us to do - reach out to
those who are in need and touch them supernaturally and powerfully.
This power is also to enable us to seek and save the lost. God will heal
and deliver those who are unbelievers and skeptics because He wants to
demonstrate that Jesus is alive and that Jesus cares. He does this
through each of us - if we will let Him.
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As the Holy Spirit continues to shake all that can be shaken within the
visible Church which, of course, includes both the true church and the
false church - we see three sets of Christians. Last week we looked at
the Church and saw four distinct sets or groups of believers. Today,
looking at the same members, we can see three totally distinct groups as
we look through apostolic glasses this time.
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What Kind of Christian Are You? |
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There are four kinds of Christians that are appearing on the radar
screen as I travel from nation to nation and from church to church...
Three of the four are being shaken in the season we are currently in.
God is shaking His Church and many are coming to realize that something
is wrong in their walk with the Lord. God is awaking them so that they
will come to realize that they are in need of being renewed spiritually
in this new season.
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There is some tremendous new music being written by young people around
the world. Music is always a driving force in the spirit realm which is
why the devil owns so much of the music we hear. As well, new music
always precedes a fresh move of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit
has begun to bring major change to God’s people - the Church - you see a
literal flood of new songs leading the way into the future.
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 Around the world the Holy Spirit is moving and healing those who come to
the Great Physician for healing. Often these are non-believers whom God
touches and heals so that they realize that Jesus is Lord and He is
alive and still ministering today through His Church - through true
believers who obey His command to “lay hands on the sick and watch them
recover (Mark 16).
Jesus is healing not just physical diseases
but also healing those who are in need of a healing touch in their
minds, their emotions, their spiritual life, as well as relationally. He
is healing and restoring people, getting their attention, and revealing
Himself to them so that they will cross the line of faith in His
Kingdom and follow Jesus as true disciples.
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 Young people are so important to God and He is moving in very special ways upon the youth of today around the world.
Here
in our city I meet with young people every day. They are amazing,
always interesting and filled with questions about Jesus and what is
happening today in the world and how it all fits with what the Bible
states. These are non-Christians. The same is true in Oxbow, Moose Jaw,
Wolseley, Regina Beach and other towns and cities that I travel to.
These young people and young couples are hungry for reality and an
authentic faith that works in the world. A faith that helps them to face
a real world and deal with complex issues that they face and feel every
day.
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 Early Saturday morning and very cool out still for this time of the
year. A busy day ahead - half in the office and the other part in
various coffee shops around the city. Regular Saturday routine.
I
plan to also take my dog for a few walks - again, a normal part of
every day. There is a man with a cane I have been building a
relationship with daily as he too walks his dog. Today I want to mention
Jesus.
As well, I have neighbors who has just put their house up
for sale who I want to speak to (I know them from dog walking as they
too have one of man’s best friends). As well, three doors down from them
there is a U-Haul on the front lawn and so finally my new neighbors are
moving in as that house sold several months ago. Time to talk Jesus.
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STARTING THE FLOW OF MISSION FROM ANYWHERE