What Makes (or Breaks) a Healthy Leadership Transition
The Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
4.8 • 673 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2025
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
📝 Free Church Culture Assessment: How is your church doing in these 6 core areas? https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/churchhealth
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After decades of leadership, I’ve walked through two major successions—first as Lead Pastor of New Life Fellowship Church, and now, as President of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship. In today’s episode, I pull back the curtain on what I’ve learned about leadership transitions—not from a textbook, but from the trenches.
Healthy transitions are rare. And they don’t happen by accident. They require deep inner work, Spirit-led discernment, and a long view that stretches beyond your lifetime. Whether you’re handing over a pulpit, a nonprofit, or a small group, the principles are the same.
In this conversation, I share seven lessons that make—or break—a leadership transition, why emotional maturity is non-negotiable, and how Jesus models the kind of surrender we’re all invited into. This isn’t just theory. This is about stewarding your life, your leadership, and your legacy—God’s way.
If you care about the future of your ministry, you need this episode.
Dig deeper by going through the book Emotionally Healthy Leader. Get the book and discussion guide here. This book was written to help you lead from a deep, inner life with God.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, my name is Pete Cizarro. I want to welcome you today to the emotionally healthy leader |
| 0:09.7 | podcast. Our topic, our theme is what makes and breaks healthy leadership transitions. What makes |
| 0:16.5 | or breaks healthy leadership transitions. And the reason I'm doing this, the backdrop is I'm in the |
| 0:23.1 | midst of my second leadership succession process here at emotionally healthy discipleship. Now, |
| 0:29.9 | the first I did was after being Lee pastor 26 years at New Life Fellowship in Elmerst, Queens. |
| 0:35.7 | We did a transition process. That was a four and a half year |
| 0:39.3 | process that I handed the church over to the next Lee Pastor Rich Velotis and actually wrote |
| 0:45.5 | about it in the final chapter of the book, Emotionally Healthy Leader as well, a bit about that. |
| 0:49.6 | But since then, I've talked to several hundred churches around the world about lessons that |
| 0:53.8 | we've learned |
| 0:54.3 | as people are so curious about it. |
| 0:55.7 | And it went extremely well. |
| 0:56.8 | A new life fellowship is flourishing to this day, 11 years later, plus years later, |
| 1:02.3 | and my relationship with the board and rich and the church is just, it still continues to be |
| 1:06.2 | tremendous. |
| 1:07.2 | And the church is thriving, doing wonderfully. |
| 1:09.5 | In fact, it wouldn't ever have been an emotionally healthy discipleship ministry |
| 1:12.9 | unless there had been a new life fellowship that I enable that to get launched. |
| 1:17.7 | So now I am my second succession process at emotionally healthy discipleship |
| 1:23.1 | that actually began, E.H. Discipleship began in 2012, and so it's actually 13 years old, |
| 1:31.8 | and in six months, I'll be passing on the torch to the next president, which will be Drew Heun, |
| 1:37.5 | who pastors a church in Midtown, Manhattan as well. Now, for 13 years, we've been a separate |
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