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Unlock Your Potential: How Your God given Personality Shapes Emotional Intelligence
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Meeting Dr. Greg Stewart
From the first moments of the interview, host Ken Primus sets the tone:
“I want to honor them because I know they’re coming with a couple of things. Very expensive in my eyes: time, 24 hours given to every man and woman…once it’s spent, it’s spent.”
Dr. Greg Stewart is a man with many hats: pastor, counselor, executive coach, professor, and author. More than his credentials, though, it’s Greg’s raw honesty about his struggles and breakthroughs that makes this story special for any journey-minded reader.
Early Life and Losing His Way
Greg’s upbringing in Michigan was, by his account, emotionally and relationally healthy. Church was a given—until it suddenly wasn’t.
“My parents quit going to church, which meant I quit going to church.”
That decision had ripple effects—spiritually, emotionally, and practically. Greg entered the classic “party-hardy” teen years, and those choices came due in a wave of consequences.
Fun Fact: Greg was a math major and history minor. That math streak inspired the title and concept of one of his books I³ (I cubed).
Coming Back: A Collision With Grace
Every true return has an unforgettable moment: Greg’s was literal and figurative. After a night of drinking, he fell asleep at the wheel, crashed his car, and landed in jail.
That wasn’t the end of his bad choices. But soon after, a mini-bike accident left him broken—both physically and spiritually.
“When I was laying in the weeds…I prayed to the Lord and said, God, I’m done with this.”
God works through red flags, warnings, and sometimes straight-up detours.
It wasn’t just the crashes that got Greg’s attention. He describes two vivid dreams: one of being unable to look at Jesus because of guilt, the other seeing a glowing cross descend from the night sky. These moments planted deep seeds, ultimately drawing him back to faith.
The Ministry Calling and Emotional Intelligence
Coming back to church was just the beginning. Greg dove head-first into ministry—starting as a youth pastor, then going to seminary, and even spending a summer in Guyana, South America.
He describes a defining moment in seminary:
“My first semester in seminary, I took Philosophy of Counseling. And it was a defining moment where I realized how powerful that material can be used within the ministry.”
He pursued not just biblical study, but also the groundbreaking work of Daniel Goleman in Emotional Intelligence, realizing the deep connection between healthy emotions and spiritual life.
At the Surface, All Was Well—Until It Wasn’t
Dr. Stewart enjoyed what outwardly looked like a string of successes: clinical counseling, pastoring, coaching, teaching, even earning a PhD in Counseling. Under the surface, however, old wounds and patterns were simmering.
“Regardless of how successful you can be, there could be some undercurrent of things that really will come to the surface one way or another.”
The Emotional Affair: Crisis and Turning Point
After over a decade of ministerial service, Greg’s life took a hard, honest turn. An emotional affair—inappropriate emotional bonding with a woman at another church—brought everything to a head.
“That began a 10-year journey of deep healing that I had to go through that was very, very powerful.”
Greg lays it out: He was leading others—teaching, counseling, guiding—yet needed deep healing himself. This is a reality for many, including leaders.
Stepping Into the Healing Journey
The affair ended the marriage, but it began something new in Greg.
He pursued intensive counseling and faced truths he had spent years avoiding. He moved from Michigan to Texas, all while juggling a demanding executive coaching role.
Despite chaos in his personal life, the Lord met him with more miracles and spiritual growth than he’d ever known.
He puts it plainly:
“You cannot impart what you do not possess.”
This was the painful but transformative work of reclaiming his identity, value, and worth.
Serving Others Through Counsel and Purpose
Dr. Stewart describes his approach to serving others as a number line—negative 10 to positive 10.
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Negative 10 to 0: Counseling people stuck in life, helping them heal emotional wounds
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Zero to Positive 10: Coaching and equipping clients to reach their God-driven purpose
He currently counsels about 40 clients a week, focusing on freeing people from emotional traps—lies, personal wounds, identity struggles—and equipping them for destiny.
Family Upbringing: The Relational Foundation
Family matters. Greg describes his childhood as emotionally solid, but a major spiritual misstep—his father’s decision to delay a ministry calling—set the tone for years.
“Truth is truth that not following the Lord has consequences always. Obedience is always better than sacrifice, as they say.”
This moment led to spiritual consequences for the family, including Greg’s own rebellion and later struggles with anger towards his parents.
Facing Guilt, Shame, and the Road to Repentance
Re-engaging with faith didn’t wipe the slate clean. Greg had to face his guilt and shame—the residue from teenage choices, failures, and regret.
He dove into scripture for healing, especially Romans 8:1:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
But it was more than memorizing verses. Greg describes an encounter with Ezekiel 36, where God acknowledges the loathing we sometimes feel for our past, but offers to replace it with a new heart.
He explains the process of “godly sorrow” (2 Corinthians 7): distinguishing between guilt that drags us down (worldly sorrow) vs. sorrow that propels us toward restoration (godly sorrow).
The Importance of Identity, Value, and Worth
For Greg, one of the deepest struggles was insecurity—feeling the need to be pursued and validated by others. God confronted him directly after the affair:
“The Spirit of God gave me a vision of a tabletop…all these dominoes standing on end. On top…were all these faces…the Spirit didn’t just blow the dominoes over. He blew them off the table and said, I make your world.”
True emotional health starts with re-establishing value and worth directly from God, not from others’ approval or pursuit.
“My value and worth is not contingent upon anybody else. It’s tied to the Lord.“
Going Deeper: The House of Your Heart
One of the most visual and powerful metaphors Greg offers is the “house of your heart.”
He says most of us stand on the “front lawn” of our heart, obsessively analyzing what others have done to us. The real growth comes when we:
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Turn around
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Walk inside
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Confront the roots of our inflated emotions
He says emotional ‘inflation’ comes from three main sources:
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Lies: The enemy distorts reality; we buy into the untruths about our identity or situation.
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Taking things personally: Insecurity on the main floor of our heart opens the door to pain.
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Trauma: Deep wounds in the “cellar” of our heart contaminate the present with yesterday’s pain.
“When we go into a situation, our mental model says, oh no, here we go again. And it scoops up emotion from the past and dumps it on the present.”
Working through these layers is where miracles happen.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
All negative emotions, Greg says, are a clue pointing us to something inside that needs healing.
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Emotion is energy—sometimes good, sometimes bad.
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Use it as a guide to what’s really happening within.
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Learn to differentiate between real, present triggers and old wounds being re-activated.
“All negative emotions expose something in me…You and I are always our first client.”
Lessons for the Church and Believers
Greg and Ken agree: Many churches aren’t focused on personal development or holistic emotional health. Instead, tradition too often replaces transformation.
“The church doesn’t teach about personal development. What you talked about is all about personal development.”
Believers can’t just lazily “throw everything on God.” There is cooperative work to do in healing, maturing, taking responsibility, and carrying your own cross.
Overcoming: Emotions, Spirituality, and the Christian Walk
Greg explains overcoming as choosing God’s better path—not the shortcuts the world or the enemy offer.
“Every decision we make is trying to achieve an emotional goal…The kingdom of darkness offers paths that have an emotional reward or else we wouldn’t do them right. But overcoming means I’m going to overcome my lust, lust and pride of this path and overcoming. And I’m going to choose God’s path.”
He advises separating wants from needs in relationships—insecurity often stems from needing what should only be wanted.
Two Spiritual Decisions:
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Salvation: The free gift—accept it.
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Discipleship: The call to count the cost and follow Christ as true first love.
“Is Jesus your first love? Because, and we know, we know what it looks like if he’s our first love.”
Words for Humanity: Dr. Stewart’s Mic Drop
If Dr. Stewart was handed a microphone to address all people, his message would boil down to this:
“Do you really believe in your soul that this story is going to turn out well?”
He points to universal morality, the unparalleled story of grace in Christianity (“nobody could have made up a story where God seeks out and loves his people”), and the reality of eternity.
He ends with the most important truth:
“By the grace of God, Jesus loves you. He died for you. And there is an eternity…Jesus loves you. He is real and he wants your eternity in heaven with him.”
Closing Thoughts: Where To Go From Here
This is not just Greg’s story. It’s all of ours. We all face:
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Emotional inflation from lies, insecurity, and trauma
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Guilt and shame that linger longer than we’d like
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Choices where we can let pain define us or let God heal us
But the journey neither starts nor ends with crisis. It’s about discovering our true identity, choosing healing on purpose, and living out the calling etched on our hearts.
What To Do Next:
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If Greg’s journey resonated, consider exploring his books. Start a book club. Gift a copy to someone else on the journey.
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Pause today and ask: What’s inflating my emotions? Is there a lie, a wound, or an insecurity God wants to address?
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If you’re a leader, remember: “You cannot impart what you do not possess.” Do your own healing work first.
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If you’re church-wounded or stuck in tradition, step into the personal development aspect of faith.
Connect with Dr. Greg Stewart
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Check out his books and resources.
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Reach out for counseling or executive coaching.
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Listen to the “Threads of Enlightenment” podcast for more authentic stories.
A Parting Quote
“All this, all this stuff’s going to die, but human souls remain forever.” — Dr. Greg Stewart
Thank you for walking through Dr. Stewart’s journey from crisis to calling. Stay on the path. Do the work. Heal, lead, and love well.
Find more at Threads of Enlightenment on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe, share, and—most importantly—apply what you’re learning to your journey.
YouTube Interview
I strongly encourage everyone to follow him, buy his books, and be transformed by his insights.
Everyone has a story, and this is his story.
Below is a list of the sites that house his works.
https://www.becomingmore.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dr.gregstewart
https://www.facebook.com/authordrgregstewart/
https://x.com/drgregstewart
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drgregstewart/
www.youtube.com/@BecomingMoreCCC
