Range of influence in a minister (8)

I believe the answer is:

preacher

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'minister' is the definition.
(someone who preaches)

'range of influence in a' is the wordplay.
'range of influence' becomes 'reach' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'a' becomes 'per' (eg 'one a day' means 'one per day').
'reach' inserted into 'per' is 'PREACHER'.

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(Other definitions for preacher that I've seen before include "He may drone on" , "One spreads the message" , "Religious minister" , "One giving a sermon" , "Someone spreading a gospel" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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