George Stewart - "The Man Who Never Met a Stranger"

Sit across the table from Mr. George Stewart and you'll soon realize you’re talking with one of the most genuine and thoughtful people you've ever met. Between the warm laughs and deep insights is an open door to conversation and dialogue about what matters most in life. From Star Wars to the philosophy of Dr Joe Dispenza, Mr. Stewart has a special way of connecting with and building up those he comes across with.

Mr. Stewart cultivates a true spirit of curiosity of all things—people, faith, psychology, and more. And as the years go by, Mr. Stewart has found that his longing to connect with people has grown all the more. “My level of intrigue is beginning to soar,” he said. “I genuinely want to know why people arrive at where they arrive, positively or negatively.”

"Tell me about it," Mr. Stewart likes to say with a smile. Four simple enough words, yet ones that aren't spoken often enough in today's society. Where many seek only to fight and defend what they believe to be true, Mr. Stewart instead seeks to understand.

Since the beginning, Mr. Stewart’s life has been intertwined with story—his family’s connection to the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the nation’s oldest African American newspapers, is something he's still learning about to this day. “George Stewart I, foundered it, some say 1895, while other sources suggest 1897. Early on there was a partnership, but in 1899, George bought out Will Porter.”

In many ways, it wasn't until recently that Mr. George Stewart began to feel the full weight and mantel of what it meant to tap into his family heritage of writing. George knew that writing was always a part of who he was, but he was young when his family was in the thick of it, so in many ways it’s been a distant memory to him.

“My dad passed on when I was seven," George shared, "—he was the editor [of the Indianapolis Recorder]. My grandfather, Marcus Stewart, was the publisher. [...] I remember up until age seven," George smiled, "wandering around the hallways of the building—and it's still the same building."

Though no longer involved in the Recorder due to ownership changes over the years, George still feels its pull and hopes that one day he'll get to walk those halls once again he used to walk, all those years ago, with his father and grandfather.

In the waiting, Mr. Stewart has learned more every day about the importance of what’s core to all writing: words. “I’m learning to be very intentional about my words,” he said. Words are everything—they can build someone up or they can tear them down. Mr. Stewart isn't being lazy about it either as he constantly pours into studying psychology and the human brain to know more and more how he can best connect with those around him. “You can’t apply something you don’t understand,” he smiled, “—not intelligently.”

Some of Mr. Stewart's favorite authors and minds are Dr. Joe Dispenza, Bob Proctor, James Allen, and Maxwell Maltz. All four of these gentlemen hone in on one topic: why the human brain does what it does. "[...] everybody has an inner image. Everything you think and believe you can or cannot do stems from that image.”

One of Mr. Stewart's favorite quotes comes from James Allen when he said [not verbatim], "many times, you and I, we fight against the symptom, but inwardly we're cherishing the cause." Let that sink in. "Most of us have some form of desire to do things differently, even if we've suppressed it," Mr. Stewart continued. But how many of us are willing to take a look inside, ask the hard questions, and reevaluate that cause?

At the heart of Mr. Stewart’s curiosity is a wanting and a longing to connect all the more not just with creation, but with the creator. “The world is loud,” Mr. Stewart said. “We just call it busy, but in most cases that's just us running or attempting to avoid some naggin' inner discomfort waiting to be addressed.” Mr. Stewart admits that he used to do this very thing but he's on a journey now to rewrite that chapter.

Speaking of chapters, Mr. Stewart is currently three chapters deep in a book he’s been writing—fighting against that inner thought of “I’ll do it tomorrow” all along the way. "For a long time I was waiting for perfect conditions—as if those exist. [...] And that wasn't happening," George laughed, "the time was just going by and going by…"

Taking a step of faith, and putting action to that desire, Mr. Stewart also began producing content for social media as a way of growing more comfortable with communication. "I decided to start producing content and putting it on Facebook. [...] I have a client who once told me, ‘The cost of success is embarrassment.’" George decided the cost was worth it and jumped head first into pursuing his dreams.

Now there’s something interesting about going after your dreams and actually seeing them come to be: they can’t be achieved alone. Mr. Stewart, like all of us and our own stories, is far from alone—his life’s story is rich with family, faith, and gratitude. When reflecting on the woman his mom was, his voice softened. “My mom passed on—she was 67 years young,” he smiled. “Materially she didn't have much of anything," but what she passed on was so much more.

"My mom once told me, 'Your dad never met a stranger.’" George paused, reliving that moment. "When that was said to me—about my father—the inside of me bloomed." George never truly got to know his father, but having heard that about who his dad was from his mom, well, it's as if it all started to make sense.

"I’m becoming very sensitive to things,” George shared, “I feed on this stuff, because it seems as if there’s much more that goes untapped for most of us.”

It’s this heart for growth and authenticity that led George and his wife to Maranatha Christian Academy through Living Word many years ago. “Before I had a child, I wanted him to go to Maranatha,” George said. That choice, he explained, wasn’t just about academics, it was about the environment and place where his son could grow up learning, knowing, and having both faith and education intertwined one and the same together. His son, now in the 5th grade, started at MCA in Kindergarten, and the plan is to have him graduate his senior year a Mustang.

Although deep of mind and character, Mr. Stewart still loves to kick back and have fun. “Ooh, I love Star Wars!” Mr. Stewart perked up. There's a special place in his heart for all of Star Wars, but Chirrut Îmwe of Rogue One holds a particularly special place there. Although not a Jedi, Chirrutis able to sense and connect with The Force around him. "[...] he had taken on such the reality of the unseen world—that his ability to do things that a natural man could not do was heightened [...] he rehearsed that until it became a part of him." George too lives to be so connected to the Father that the world around him becomes secondary as he taps into doing and seeing things that natural man cannot do apart from God.

If you find yourself across the table from Mr. George Stewart, you'll soon realize you’re talking to one of the most genuine and thoughtful people you've ever met. Mr. Stewart isn’t just wise and intellectual—he’s kind, caring, and more than compassionate.

And no matter how much you may have suppressed your own dreams or found yourself caught in a negative loop, it’s people like George Stewart that help remind us that there’s a story inside each of us just waiting to bloom if we’re willing to take a step, put pen to paper, and get to work.