Hi, my name is Pete Cizarro. I want to welcome you today to the emotionally healthy leader

podcast. Our topic, our theme is what makes and breaks healthy leadership transitions. What makes

or breaks healthy leadership transitions. And the reason I'm doing this, the backdrop is I'm in the

midst of my second leadership succession process here at emotionally healthy discipleship. Now,

the first I did was after being Lee pastor 26 years at New Life Fellowship in Elmerst, Queens.

We did a transition process. That was a four and a half year

process that I handed the church over to the next Lee Pastor Rich Velotis and actually wrote

about it in the final chapter of the book, Emotionally Healthy Leader as well, a bit about that.

But since then, I've talked to several hundred churches around the world about lessons that

we've learned

as people are so curious about it.

And it went extremely well.

A new life fellowship is flourishing to this day, 11 years later, plus years later,

and my relationship with the board and rich and the church is just, it still continues to be

tremendous.

And the church is thriving, doing wonderfully.

In fact, it wouldn't ever have been an emotionally healthy discipleship ministry

unless there had been a new life fellowship that I enable that to get launched.

So now I am my second succession process at emotionally healthy discipleship

that actually began, E.H. Discipleship began in 2012, and so it's actually 13 years old,

and in six months, I'll be passing on the torch to the next president, which will be Drew Heun,

who pastors a church in Midtown, Manhattan as well. Now, for 13 years, we've been a separate

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