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The Black Family That Built America: A 5-Generation Construction Dynasty · Earn Your Leisure

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  Speaker 3: All right, So we have Cheryl mckizick Daniel and we
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  Speaker 3: actually interviewed Cheryl probably like two years ago for earning
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  Speaker 3: a Leisia. She's been invest Fest twice recently. She was
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  Speaker 3: an invest Fest this year and just has a new
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  Speaker 3: book that came out. Congratulations, congrats, congrats first and foremost.
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  Speaker 2: The Black Family who Built America. Hey, that's a great title.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So if you're not if you're not familiar,
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  Speaker 3: So Cheryl is the CEO and president of mckiswick and McKissick,
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  Speaker 3: and it's the oldest black owned and women owned construction
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  Speaker 3: firm in the United States. Six generations.
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  Speaker 4: You're calling that into uh existence, in existence, because there
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  Speaker 4: is a sixth generation that.
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  Speaker 5: I'm working on.
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  Speaker 2: So five generations.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm fifth, yes, so five five.
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  Speaker 3: Five generations, And they kind of give you some perspective
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  Speaker 3: of some some of the work that she's done. John F.
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  Speaker 3: Kennedy into the National Airport Terminal one, the new Terminal
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  Speaker 3: one JFK Beautiful Beautiful, Barclay Center, and Atlantic Yards, Pacific
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  Speaker 3: Park including Long Island Railroad, Vanderbilt Yard relocation, Faulton Fish Market,
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  Speaker 3: Mega Evers College, Harlem Hospitals, new Patient Pavilion, Coney Island
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  Speaker 3: Hospital Campus renovation.
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  Speaker 2: Uh, I mean, very very impressive residmes. I don't know
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  Speaker 2: too many resumes that sound like that for sure.
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  Speaker 1: I mean most people frequent these places, they don't really
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  Speaker 1: think that's part of their portfolios.
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  Speaker 3: So, you know, we're going to talk about your book.
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  Speaker 3: We definitely have to talk about you know, construction today's
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  Speaker 3: economy challenges, different ways to get in. But first, for
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  Speaker 3: the people that may not be totally familiar, can you
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  Speaker 3: give us the history of your family in construction dating
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  Speaker 3: back I believe it started even during slavery, right right.
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  Speaker 4: We go back two hundred and thirty years to seventeen
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  Speaker 4: ninety when the first descendant of our family came to
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  Speaker 4: this country.
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  Speaker 5: His name was Moses mckizwick the.
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  Speaker 4: First, and he was taught the trade of making bricks.
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  Speaker 4: He was in North Carolina as a slave. His son,
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  Speaker 4: Moses mckiswick the second, was a master carpenter and a
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  Speaker 4: master builder, and he also was in North Carolina until
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  Speaker 4: the slave master gave him away as a wedding gift
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  Speaker 4: to the Maxwell family who lived in spring Hill, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 4: And that's how we got to Tennessee. And then shortly
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  Speaker 4: after emancipation, he moved to Pulaski, Tennessee, and that's where
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  Speaker 4: he Our first company started, which was mckisick Contractors, and
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  Speaker 4: that was Moses mckiswick the second. His son, Moses mcizick
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  Speaker 4: the third is my grandfather, and he and his brother
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  Speaker 4: became the first black licensed architects in America with licensed
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  Speaker 4: one seventeen and won eighteen in the state of Tennessee.
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  Speaker 4: And they worked all through the South and the Northeast,
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  Speaker 4: and then the company was passed down to my father.
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  Speaker 5: It was William D.
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  Speaker 4: Berry mcizick, another architect, and when he became ill, my
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  Speaker 4: mother took over and now I run the company.
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  Speaker 5: So I am fifth generation in this company. And I
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  Speaker 5: have to say after.
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  Speaker 4: It was over two hundred years and Moses mcizock the
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  Speaker 4: first laid his first brick, and here we are two
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  Speaker 4: hundred years later, an unshakable pillar in a country that
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  Speaker 4: is dealing with questions that we've answered already around equality, equity, opportunity.
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  Speaker 4: And I feel that the mcisic and I write about
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  Speaker 4: this in my book. We stand as a.
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  Speaker 5: Mirror for America and a beacon.
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  Speaker 4: A mirror is saying, you know, black professionals, we've been
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  Speaker 4: around for so.
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  Speaker 5: Many years, but yet we've been ignored. You just said,
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  Speaker 5: who built this? Well, we did, and.
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  Speaker 4: We're a beacon because we are exactly what happens when
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  Speaker 4: perseverance meets purpose.
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  Speaker 5: And so all of this.
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  Speaker 4: Is in my book the Black family who built America,
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  Speaker 4: And so that's our tagline. We proudly say, who built this,
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  Speaker 4: We did, because Black Americans really are like the hidden
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  Speaker 4: figures in this country who have contributed so much. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: we actually did build America.
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  Speaker 3: And then talk about just follow up on that, because
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  Speaker 3: that's how are you able to scale the company from
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  Speaker 3: starting during slavery to doing JFK Airport. Like that's important too,
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  Speaker 3: Like talk about that scale as one thing to have
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  Speaker 3: a generational business, but it's another thing to have a
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  Speaker 3: generational business that's actually growing over the course of time.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, So you know, when I think about it, how
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  Speaker 4: we were able to sustain slavery, Jim Crow prejudice in
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  Speaker 4: the deep deep South, and to be able to do
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  Speaker 4: that over a span of two hundred years. I think
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  Speaker 4: about the fact that number one, ownership was important to
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  Speaker 4: our family. So just being able to have ownership, And
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  Speaker 4: that's what I love about what you guys are doing
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  Speaker 4: at in best best, I meet so many people who.
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  Speaker 5: Want to be owners in their own.
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  Speaker 4: Lane of something, and I think that's paramount when you're
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  Speaker 4: trying to create a legacy. Also, I think we adapted,
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  Speaker 4: but we didn't lose our identity.
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  Speaker 5: We always made sure we provided.
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  Speaker 4: Excellent work and in the perspective and in the area
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  Speaker 4: that we were supposed to. But at the same time,
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  Speaker 4: we came home to our black community and took care
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  Speaker 4: of our black community. We built black churches, we built
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  Speaker 4: colleges and universities, and so these are some of the
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  Speaker 4: tenants that I think that are extremely important. You know,
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  Speaker 4: as you grow in business, you also have to lift
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  Speaker 4: others up with you.
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  Speaker 5: If you stand by yourself, then that's a problem. You're
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  Speaker 5: easy to knock off.
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  Speaker 4: But if you bring in a strong foundation, which is
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  Speaker 4: what we try to do other contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers,
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  Speaker 4: then we have a base from which we can draw
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  Speaker 4: up on and each other. We can all work together
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  Speaker 4: as a network as opposed to an individual.
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  Speaker 5: I think that is extremely important. And education, education is key.
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  Speaker 4: With each generation of the Mecisics, the education and the
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  Speaker 4: knowledge grew and that was also a sustaining factor for
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  Speaker 4: our business.
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  Speaker 2: Dude, this is incredible. I want to get this right.
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  Speaker 1: So you credit your family success with the five piece
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  Speaker 1: right perseverance, preparedness, persistence, productivity and prayer. Talk about how
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  Speaker 1: those show themselves throughout generation to generation and how you're
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  Speaker 1: implementing it to I mean, the evaluation is probably starting
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  Speaker 1: with to be at this point, how has that prepared
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  Speaker 1: you and got you to this point?
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  Speaker 5: Well, the projects are at a b okay, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 5: You know.
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  Speaker 4: Perseverance is getting up every day in the face of adversity.
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  Speaker 5: Period.
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  Speaker 4: I can't tell you the number of rooms I've walked
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  Speaker 4: into as the only female and definitely the only black female.
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  Speaker 4: And I talk about this all the time. The first
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  Speaker 4: time I ever went to the New York Building Congress,
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  Speaker 4: a sea of white men in suits five hundred and
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  Speaker 4: you know, I don't.
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  Speaker 5: Think they thought I had anything to contribute. They were like,
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  Speaker 5: who is this lady. I mean, I don't even think
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  Speaker 5: they noticed me. And I thought to him, I said, well,
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  Speaker 5: how am I.
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  Speaker 4: Gonna make it in New York City If this is
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  Speaker 4: these are the people.
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  Speaker 5: That I have to generate revenue from.
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  Speaker 4: And so persistence is getting up every day saying I
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  Speaker 4: am going to live my dream and I'm not gonna
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  Speaker 4: let anything stop me.
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  Speaker 5: And I think the Mcusics have done that in every generation.
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  Speaker 5: Productivity means just that you have actually produced value, and
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  Speaker 5: we have done that.
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  Speaker 4: I feel that we have documented the black experience in
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  Speaker 4: this country through our bid, through the universities that we built,
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  Speaker 4: the hospitals, the schools, and so that's to me, it's productivity.
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  Speaker 4: The other one is preparedness. We talked about education, drawing
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  Speaker 4: up on your own experiences and becoming a better professional
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  Speaker 4: with every day, you know, professional development. And you guys
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  Speaker 4: deal a lot in all of this with invest best
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  Speaker 4: and it's all true. And the other I forgot, what's
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  Speaker 4: the fourth one?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we got prayer still and we got.
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  Speaker 4: Preparedness, idea, preparedness, productivity, perseverance, persistence, and I switched that
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  Speaker 4: one out a lot and say purpose because now I say,
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  Speaker 4: you know, if you wake up every day with a
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  Speaker 4: purpose on your mind, of God given purpose, then you
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  Speaker 4: will achieve it. Now, prayer is the one I added
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  Speaker 4: because some days that's exactly what I need.
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  Speaker 2: Prayer.
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  Speaker 4: I'm in constant contact saying, you know, Lord, let the
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  Speaker 4: words of my mouth or the meditations of my heart
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  Speaker 4: be acceptable unto you, not to anyone else, but to you.
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  Speaker 5: And if I do that, then I know.
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  Speaker 4: I've accomplished what I've needed to accomplish for the day.
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  Speaker 4: And so those are the five p's and they have
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  Speaker 4: shown up everywhere in the Mechisic legacy.
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  Speaker 5: And with each.
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