Bishop J. Delano Ellis II, leader and a co-founder of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ, has resigned.
The 59-year-old Ellis, who has leukemia, announced his resignation Tuesday as presiding bishop of the church encompassing 17 bishops, more than 300 congregations and 500,000 people in the United States, India and Africa.
Fellow bishops met in Cleveland on Tuesday and elected his successor, Bishop Larry Darnell Trotter, 47, of Chicago.
The Philadelphia-born Ellis was among a group of pastors who founded the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ 15 years ago to encourage unity in the historically independent religious movement.
Ellis has fostered cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church and has visited Rome to learn about shared Christian roots.
Trotter said he would move the church's headquarters from Cleveland to Chicago.