Welcome to the Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast. My name is Rich Velotis. I'm the lead pastor of New Life Fellowship Church here in Queens, New York City.

I'm here with Pete Skazero. Pete is the founder of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, as well as the founder of New Life Fellowship Church. And we are in the EHS office here.

We are. Big time.

Big time here, big time. So today, we're going to talk about the importance of silence in our spiritual formation,

in our discipleship in following Christ.

And so, Pete, you have been on a journey.

You've talked about your journey in many different settings.

But just talk about your journey to embracing silence as part of

a key part of just your spiritual formation.

Yeah, yeah.

So without going to, you know, many of you know my story, but it was until 2003 when I actually

took this sabbatical around monastic communities that really I had an experience of silence that I realized,

whoa, this thing is powerful.

So it was 2003 that I actually engaged it seriously.

Offices, it was daily, and became a real part of my formation.

So now of it last, I guess, how many years are you talking about 13 years,

it's grown and developed.

And I'm still learning, of course, but I see now why people like Henry Nau and say that

without silence is virtually impossible to grow spiritually.

Or Dallas Willow would say it's this alone with silence and solitude of the two most difficult

disciplines in the Christian life for the Western Church. And so I came into it outside of evangelicalism, but yet felt called

by God to remain as a pastor here at New Life and participated in our mission to the world.

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