The Heart Examined
PCS Leadership Camp 2026 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 11 viewsBefore anything else, leadership is a matter of the heart. Jesus consistently bypassed the external and went to what was happening on the inside. We want students to sit with the question: who am I really leading from? What is actually driving me? The goal is for them to encounter the Jesus who sees the heart — and to begin to want to lead from a heart genuinely shaped by Him.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
My conversion story
My time coming into leadership during the Young, Reformed & Restless” Movement
Putting Macho Back in = Leonce Crump Phone Book
Of the half-dozen or so leaders
One became a bully, one was convected of sexual abuse, and was fire from his church that that he started, got hired at another one, but then shot himself
Just before his passing, he spoke about being part of a group of young pastors who became celebrities with book deals, speaking gigs, fame and money but little spiritual maturity:
“I was spending a lot of energy creating and sustaining my image, It’s so subtle; I am trying to influence people for the gospel — you have to have a social media presence, you have to speak at conferences.”
While pastoring his church plant, he eventually became isolated from many of his friends when he was pastoring Journey Church.
“I stopped pursuing friendships,” he said. “Another way to say that, I stopped being known. And that was the beginning of the end.”
Why this is important? (Felt Need)
You will not have to travel wide, or live long to see leaders hurt others and themselves.
What is common in all of those stories = Walling off the heart. (explain how the bully, the sex abuse guy, and the suicidal guy).
From other people, as they had already done it from Jesus.
Why we do it?
Sin areas of sin:
Protect the idol: The “me‑god” wants to keep control of particular desires
Fear exposure and consequences: If sin is tied to reputation or relationships,
In areas of hurt:
Numb and detach: To survive trauma, people push pain down; but the same numbness that protects from hurt also blunts spiritual sensitivity.
Project human failures onto God: If caregivers or leaders were unsafe, they expect God to judge, reject,
Avoid triggers: Prayer, worship, or Scripture can surface buried grief or anger, so they “stay busy” and avoid quiet where the Spirit would start to heal.
Out of fear and hurt, we close off some or all of our hearts to Jesus….
Here is why this is so important? That hurt, that sin, that thing you carry, WILL NOT STAY BURIED…..
Our hearts have a habit of leaking into our lives…
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Mark 7:20-23
