The Boy They Called Broken Was Never Broken at All with Dr. Stuart Jones

Dr. Stuart Jones shares the powerful true story behind his award-winning book, For the Love of Stephen: The Story of a Boy Who Was Never Broken. Born with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the 1950s, Stephen was given limiting labels—but his family chose faith, advocacy, inclusion, and relentless love instead. Stuart reflects on special education, Temple Grandin’s “different, not less” message, exploitation of vulnerable adults, forgiveness, and the sermon that helped transform shame into courage: “God Don’t Make No Junk.” A moving conversation about dignity, possibility, and seeing every person as fully human.

Dr. Stuart's contact info:

Website - www.authorstuartjones.com

Email - fortheloveofstephen@yahoo.com

🌟Featured Hope Unlocked Partner: Reliht

Welcome to Reliht, the brand new and easy-to-use, online no-chat tool you didn’t know you needed, but will love.

Designed as an alternative to social media, Reliht gives you quiet space to reflect, journal, grow with God, capture and share what He’s speaking—without the distractions of endless scrolling and chat.  Sit with God, listen, reflect, journal, receive, and share.

✨ As a special launch welcome, sign up FREE through September 1, 2026.

Learn more at reliht.com 

🎙️Hope Unlocked Listener Exclusive! Feeling stirred but not sure what to do next? Book a 45-minute Holy Spirit-led 1:1 coaching session w/ Hope Unlocked host Kristin Kurtz, founder of New Wings Coaching. This powerful conversation will help you move from stirred to activated—with peace, clarity, & a Spirit-led next step. Book your call HERE now–special pricing to listeners!

Transcript

ReLight App And Quick Welcome

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Before we jump into today's episode, I want to tell you about ReLight. ReLight is a brand new web and mobile app, one without distractions of social scrolling and chat. If you're a content creator, coach, mentor, writer, author, teacher, or leader, ReLight gives you a dedicated space to capture what God is speaking, organize your content, and share it with those you lead. Ready to create and share God notes with your followers? As a special launch welcome, sign up is free through September 1st, 2026. Visit ReLight.com to get started today. That's spelled R-E-L-I-H-T no G. Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristin Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me welcome Dr. Stuart Jones to the show. I'm so excited to have him here today. We've had a chance to get to know each other a little bit before we got started. And he is just like the word that I'm hearing is a delight. So before we get into the story, would you just share a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:00

I will. Kristen,

Meet Dr. Stuart Jones

SPEAKER_02 1:01

thanks so much. You're so gracious to have me. And you're right, you and I made a really nice connection. Some people in their spirits just do that. They just connect, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

As I was sharing with Kristen a little bit earlier, I'm three years into retirement now. I'm a retired uh executive in higher education. I serve as a vice president at several different universities, a couple universities in Indiana. I was a VP at a wonderful university in Kentucky and in Virginia and in Massachusetts. It's like I just kept running around the country, you know, trying to find my perfect spot. But before I got into higher ed, and I did that for 30 years, I was a pastor. I was a minister. And I stayed true to my calling. I felt a calling to go into ministry. And therefore, after my bachelor's degree, I picked up my master's in divinity and theology. And I served in ministry within churches for 10 years. And then that ministry expanded and went to some Christian universities after that. And now I've come full circle, Kristen. I'm full circle. In retirement, I'm back to doing interim pastoral work for churches that simply need a pastor in an interim period, part-time, to kind of hold the ship and steer it correctly, I pray, until they find their permanent pastor. So I just finished an interim uh church and I'm being called to another interim church, being interviewed with them next week. And that's been fun. But I I've stayed really busy in retirement because that's just kind of how I'm wired. And one of the things that God absolutely inspired me to do and kind of gnawed away at me for many years until I got it done was writing this book. I'm also an author and I've written my first. I hate to, this sounds like bragging, but it's now an award-winning book. I I've won quite a few awards and it's only been out for eight months. So I'm blessed that it's getting some wonderful recognition, including it's now been admitted to the Library of Congress. And that's just really mind-blowing because that means my book's there forever until the library is no longer there. And you know, the rapture, and then all that happens.

Stephen’s Story, Prognoses, And Hope

SPEAKER_02 3:10

But anyway, but I had to write the inspirational story of my brother Stephen. He was the first of our family born. He was born with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a time where there were no services and resources and help. There was no special education. And the book is really about his amazing and remarkable life. That again, my parents were told so many doom and gloom things that Stephen proved them wrong. And my parents proved them wrong. And faith was a big component of our lives growing up and for Stevens. But I've written the book called For the Love of Stephen, because I titled it that because as I looked back on our journey together as a family, you know, we had to do a lot to help Stephen, defend him, advocate for him, speak for him. And everything we did was because we loved Stephen. So for the love of Stephen became the title. And my subtitle became The Story of a Boy Who Was Never Broken, because Stephen was labeled broken early on. Back in the 50s, they would label children mentally retarded. They used medical terms such as imbecile or moron, was a medical term. And Stephen was given all of those labels. And my parents, who had Stephen at the tender age, both of them 18 years old, had to get married, first child right out of marriage. They just, this was a tough shock to their system as an 18-year-old couple. And they kind of adopted some doom and gloom along the way because of all the prognosises they were given. Stephen may never read, he may never talk, he may never walk, etc., etc. etc. Steve did all of those things because my parents eventually adopted, they unlocked hope. They found hope unlocked, and they truly took on an attitude of we're not going to listen anymore to people who say, here's what Stephen can't do. My father said he got to the point where he said, I want to know what can Stephen do. And that made all the difference in Stephen's life. And they gave him a beautiful life until, and spoiler alert, but you know, the book's very upfront about this, until he was tragically killed at the age of 52. And that was about 20 years ago. But in retirement, I had to write his story. My parents, who are still alive, age 91, they helped me write the book. My other brother, Scott, and sister, Susan, I'm the youngest of the family, they helped me write the book. I gathered their stories, and I didn't know many of them, but I gathered the information. I did the research, and I wrote what I think is really a powerful moving story. At least that's what readers are telling me in the reviews, is that it moved them and changed the way they will forever think about those with disabilities and the fact that they deserve respect and dignity, and mostly they deserve to be seen as children of God. People whom God has created as part of his masterful handiwork. And I've been preaching that message because too often, Kristen, and I'll be quiet here and let you ask a question. I'm still just so bothered that those in the disability community, whether it's Asperger's, autism, whatever, whatever the disability, they're still segregated and they're still kind of shunned from society and they're not provided the resources and services. Medicaid keeps getting pulled from them. And I've joined many disability advocacy groups, and I'm an advocate now, and speaking out on behalf of those who can't speak for themselves, they are not second-class citizens. They are fully human, they are capable of more than we know or give them credit for. And by golly, they deserve to be seen as fully human. And so we fight that good fight along the way. God's put that on my heart as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Well, like I said before we got started, you didn't retire, you re-fired.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

And I re-fired. I love it. I do get fired up about this.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

I can feel it. You know, even just when when you say the word disability, I love flipping the script. Like, what could be another word that I mean, because again, it's a label, like medical system, they all have labels. And I've heard of people who have been given labels, and it it's it just it it squishes them. It it pulls life out of people with some of these labels that were given. I can't believe some of these labels that were given back in the 50s, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

I address that in the book. It's one in my early chapters, the labels. And I say that labels belong on jars, not human beings, right? And and you're right, disability is a common term, and many people I like this term as well.

Different, Not Less With Temple Grandin

SPEAKER_02 8:20

They say, no, differently abled. These people are differently abled. And as my friend, here I'm gonna name drop now, and my friend Temple Grandin, Dr. Temple Grandon, who wrote the foreword for my book, I love her mantra, which is different, not less. Just different.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Say it again for the people in the back.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Different, not less. And I like to say Stephen was different, not broken, as others thought he was. And we often treat those individuals as though they're different and broken, and that they're less than, and they are not. And I learned that growing up with Stephen. That was the blessing of my life.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, Temple Granton, remind me, I watched her movie.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah, on HBO. It was called movie. It was just called Temple.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Temple, okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Yeah, on HBO. Yeah, and Kristen, I don't know if you've seen the documentary on her life. There's a documentary, more recent, about a few years ago, came out. It's called An Open Door. Because that's part of her philosophy, too. She feels like her calling and vocation in life is to open doors for people who are closing doors on them. And she did that for me. I mean, I didn't even know Temple when I sent her my manuscript. I took a wild chance. And I said, Temple, I appreciate your philosophy of opening doors. I'd like to see if you'd be interested in writing the foreword to my book so I can open some doors and be a disability advocate. So she's a woman of few words sometimes, but when she gets to talking and she's at a convention or speaking, man, she's just oh, so articulate, so highly intelligent. But she she ties back, she says, send me the manuscript. I sent her the manuscript and I waited and I wrote. Yeah, and I I was waiting for rejection, Kristen. I'll be honest. I had no faith.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Shame on me.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

I was waiting for the rejection.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

But you took a step of faith. So that was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

I did, right? I did. And as my wife said, she said, Stuart, if you don't send it, the answer is going to be no.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Exactly. Send it. Why not ask? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

I asked. And she sent back a two weeks later. She said, and she said, quote, Stuart, this is a beautiful story and so inspirational. I would be happy to do the forward for your book. And I felt like I'd won the lottery. I just jumping up and down like a crazy man, singing praises to God and thanking my new friend. And then Temple says, This is the crazy part. She says, Hey, call me sometime. Here's my phone number. I'm like, Are you kidding me? So I didn't have the guts to do it right away. I'm such a chip. No, so about a week later, I dialed the number. My heart was racing. I called her and she picked up. And I said, Temple, hey, this is Stuart Jones. You just agreed to write, you know, the forew to my book for the love of Stephen. She says, Yes. She said, I really enjoyed reading that. She said, that's going to be a powerful resource for parents to give them hope and inspiration. And I said, Do you think so? She said, Absolutely. So we had a pleasant conversation. He's such a gracious lady. Such a big name celebrity doesn't even close to have a mentality of a celebrity. When she says to somebody piddly like me, call me. I'm like, wow, she's really down to earth.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Yes. And isn't it amazing to like find people like that that maybe have had some like notoriety and people know who they are and yet they are willing to talk to anybody, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

She wants to be a friend with everybody. She is an autistic woman, but really an autistic savant in that everybody knows she's quite the genius in animal sciences and still teaches at the University of Colorado State. She's just a brilliant woman.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

How old is she now?

SPEAKER_02 12:09

She's in her 70s.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

And my gosh, she makes me feel like I'm slow because she's always on the go, literally from one refired to another conference. She is so refired. I don't know how she keeps up with her own schedule. And in between, talking to people like me.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

She I actually caught her on the tarmac on while she was sitting on an airplane before it took off to go to her next conference. She's like, I'm trying to get through some calls before the plane takes off. And she said, I saw you ringing in. I said, Yeah. So that's just how incredible she is.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Oh wow, I love that. I love that for you too. And I left like her, you know, premises an open door, right? I I I'll just share a little bit. I I remember I left a corporate position about five years ago, and it was at a health insurance company in a corporate setting. Yeah. And they had no handicap doors to the bathroom to like to like push the button where it would open to the to even get into the security floor. Not ADA compliant, really to fight them, and they were like nope, we can't do that. And I'm I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

They're kind of mandated by federal law, Kristen, to do that.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

And I'm like, this is a healthcare company. Yeah. Oh my god. So I just don't, and I yeah. So tell

Family Loss, S Names, And Starting The Book

SPEAKER_01 13:38

us more. I would love to hear. So, Stephen, first child, were you the second then?

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I was the last child. There was there was Stephen, and then again, hope I'm not I don't think I'm ruining the surprises of the book. But the second child that was born to my folks, his name was Johnny. So here's my parents, 18. Now they're about 20, 19 years old. They know that something's wrong with Stephen. They don't know quite what yet. He wasn't diagnosed. Then they had a second child. Dad gets drafted into the army, drags mom and Stephen down to North Carolina to crappy army barracks, you know, for housing for married couples. Johnny catches pneumonia when he's 15 months old and dies. So that was a lot for a 19-year-old couple to be handling. First child has special needs and they suspect it. Second child dies tragically. Third child was my sister, then my brother Scott. And then, as I like to say to my siblings, I was last because they reached perfection and decided to stop. You know what? They don't buy that at all, but I like to say I like to say it.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

And I recognized a pattern here. You guys all have S names. We do have significance to that.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

No, mom said it was clearly accidental until I came along. They, you know, this sounds crazy, but they said, you know, all of our kids we've named with S's. This last guy, we better give him an S name. And I got Stuart. And I uh Stuart. Nobody names our kids Stuart anymore. What a name.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Have you grown to love your name though?

SPEAKER_02 15:15

No, it's a I need therapy for this. I should have been like Sam or I was gonna ask you, like, what would you name yourself? I don't know, but not Stuart.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Okay, well, in your referrement years, you know, maybe you could take on some a pseudoname of some sort.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

I need to, yeah, I need to find my at age 65, I gotta find my new identity. Yeah. Well, I took such a teasing as a kid because of the book Stuart Little. So literally, here we are in first and second grade, and our teachers reading Stuart Little. And what do you think my name became for many years to come? Stuart Little. I I guess it's sort of true. I'm only five foot seven. So, you know, all right, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

You you're you are a powerhouse. So we're we're just we're going with that. So I'd love to hear. So you when did you start writing the book?

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Yeah, right after I retired, I stopped making excuses and I really felt it was time. So I sat down and started just I I'm sorry for this term. Some authors use it a lot. I don't know if it's that great of a term, but it's but I started to do the word vomit, where I just started writing my memories of Stephen. Talk about a rough draft.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

And it took me about a year to Were you literally like writing or retyping it?

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Typing it, yeah, on my laptop. And I realized I had to capture as much about Stephen's life as I could, and I knew I didn't know all about Stephen's life. I just didn't. Stephen and I were eight years apart.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

And so I interviewed my parents, hours of interviewing my parents. And their minds at that time, oh my gosh, sharp as a tack. They could remember all stories, incidents, dates, names, when they went to court, when they uh put they put a couple people in prison who abused Stephen. They just remembered it all and they recounted it all. And for me, it was fun because they're weaving these stories. I'm typing as fast as I can, then I would run home and flush those stories out more. And the same thing with my brother Scott and sister Susan. And I learned so much. This is where I became really inspired and where hope really got unlocked for me with this book. I didn't know a lot about my brother Stephen. I learned so much about the ups and downs, the trials. My parents are very private people. They're post-World War II generation. That generation doesn't share openly. Like the gen my father likes to make fun of today's generation. He's like, Why are people putting pictures of their breakfast on Facebook? I said, Dad, they share everything. You didn't share stuff. You just, you know, you were very private. You kept things private. But yeah, they just they shared all of their stories, knowing it was going to go into a book. And I just began to oh, really admire my parents' courage when they were told by the family doctor Stephen is a special needs child. They called him retarded. And my grandmother and the doctor himself told my parents, you've got two options, really, Keith and Phyllis. You can put him in a home, an institution. That's where they put most kids with mental challenges and problems. Or you can just let him live at home and you know, he can grow up with you and just do the best you can with him. That was their two options. Well, my parents quickly they said for not for one minute did they consider an institution. They loved Stephen and they knew they had challenges ahead. And because he was a premi, he was put in an incubator for nine weeks to survive. That just about caused him permanent blindness. So the poor kid wore the thickest glasses imaginable on his face. And he was also born with just some other problematic issues. Ichthyosis vulgaris is a terrible skin condition that poor Stephen had. It's this skin that's so dry, it's scaly and it peels constantly, like you've got a sunburn that's peeling that will never go away. So Stephen always had dry, flaky, peeling skin. Bless his heart, webbed toes, bad eyes, you know, um, and just very short in stature. But again, one of the most beautiful things about his childhood was when my father said, you know, him and mom took a position of doom and gloom

The Tricycle Moment That Changed Everything

SPEAKER_02 19:45

until my aunt Betty came along. I love this story. Aunt Betty wasn't gonna listen to doctors who said Stephen probably, if he walks, that's gonna be a miracle. Not only did he walk, he ran. He was a fast runner. But my Aunt Betty said, Well, I'm gonna teach him to pedal his tricycle. He's three years old at this point. Mom and dad said, Good luck. Betty, my mom and dad said Aunt Betty worked with him every day. Every day she took him out there in the driveway, and she kept trying to get him to move his legs to pedal. He finally did. So she screams at mom and dad, literally. They come running out, they see Steve pedaling a tricycle. Mom cries, dad's cheering like he had just won the Tour de France. And Betty's jumping up and down. My father said it was in that moment hope unlocked for them. That's when they decided no more are we listening to what Stephen can't do. What can he do? And they took on a whole new persona as parents, and they put Steve. This is why I love my parents' courage. This was radical in their day. Because you didn't see special needs kids out in the public all the time, they were hidden away.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Really?

SPEAKER_02 21:00

My parents put Steve out front and center everywhere in public. And they let him join the Boy Scouts for neurotypical kids. You know, they and these kids are looking at Steve like, we're gonna have him in Boy Scouts? Yes, you are. And they had Stephen join 4-H and he joined the church and he joined the choir, and we found out he could not sing. Whoo! He made a joyful noise, Kristen, but he didn't sing on key. So dad took him out of choir and made him into an usher for the church to collect the offering and pass out bulletins. But Steve gained so much confidence because my parents believed in him and we believed in him. And so he really did live a happy, full life. He was such a gentle, beautiful soul. He really was. And he taught me and my brother and sister so much about unconditional Christian love and seeing everybody and the dignity of everybody and not judging anybody. That's what's Stephen was, you were a friend to him instantly. No judgment. You know, just he wanted to be your friend. He wanted to be included. He just wanted to belong. And we did the best we could to make that happen. And it made all the difference in his life.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

So was he in school too?

Special Education, Mainstreaming, And Graduation

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Yeah, school was a challenge. Parent, my parents started him in kindergarten with neurotypical kids like you and me, right? He was neurodivergent. So he failed kindergarten. And Mrs. Kendall said to my parents, he needs to repeat kindergarten. So he repeated a second year of kindergarten. He didn't pass really. Mrs. Kendall said he needs a third year of kindergarten. My parents said, no, no more kindergarten. And as my father said, God threw them a wonderful lifeline. In that very moment, they saw an article in the newspaper. We grew up in Lafayette, Indiana. Actually, at that time, we were living in a nearby small town. But in Lafayette, Purdue University was doing cutting-edge evaluations, assessment, and research on those with intellectual disabilities. So they said, we have to move to Lafayette. There was no school yet, just Purdue University. They then did discover a small group of parents with children like Stephen, who were tired of being told, no, your child is never going to learn. We can't take them in school. They started a school for intellectually disabled children. They themselves, as parents, until they could finally hire a teacher. And Stephen finally started getting an education, learning his alphabet and his numbers. Eventually, in middle school, special education became a reality in Lafayette when they hired their first special education teacher at a school. And then Steve got more of a formal education. And long story short, because it's all in the book, my parents fought with many parents to get these children mainstreamed into public school. Stephen was the first special ed class to be brought into a neurotypical school. They were in a separate classroom, but Steven also had the chance to be with other children in other classes. And he had graduated. My parents will tell you their proudest moment, two moments, pedaling a bicycle, and number two, graduating with a high school diploma. Steven did it.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Amazing.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

He did it. And no one said he could, except my parents. Somebody asked me that. I don't know. It'd be lovely if somebody picked up the rights to this movie because Stephen's story is fairly typical. There's millions of children who walked the same path and with parents who weren't sure what to do. And no disrespect intended, but parents who did hide children away or put them in an institution, they just didn't know what to do. My parents took a very brave journey and said, This is our child made by God for a purpose. We love him. You will love him too, because here he is.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

And I mean, I just I think of you know a couple who's 18.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Right. My my son who just drove by that I was just waving at.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Yeah. Hey.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

I can't imagine like at that age. So their parents, I think you said one of the like the grand one of the grandmothers was kind of.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Yeah, my father's mother said putting in an institution. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah. And how about your your mother's mother?

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Oh no, they they didn't feel that way at all. Yeah, she she no, she didn't feel that way at all. She wanted them to keep Steven and to raise him. And so, and that's and they never thought twice about it, they said. So, you know, Steven just lived a beautiful life. And I just like the fact that he he he beat the odds for sure. And I know we've heard a thousand stories like that, but Steve did it too. And he kind of proved the naysayers wrong because they also told my parents he'll never be able to be a productive member of society and hold a job. But he did right out of high school. He got a job as a custodian at a hospital, a local hospital there in town. And Steve couldn't drive a car, he just wasn't capable of handling that. So he rode his bike everywhere. And Kristen, for 33 years, he rode his bike to work.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

In the rain. I mean, you guys think about this. Like the the three-year-old to ride a

Work, Pride, And Adult Independence

SPEAKER_01 27:29

bike to this point, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

To continue to like defy the odds.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

So what was that like for him working at the hospital?

SPEAKER_02 27:43

He was so proud of that job, and he loved talking about it. He loved talking about the different assignments he had, whether it was mopping up the floor of an operating room, and he liked trying to freak us out with the gory details. Or and where he really ended up was in the laundry department, you know, always doing the laundry of the bed sheets and the pillows and the pillow sheets and all of those things. And he was very proud of that job, and he did it. In fact, he did it so well. His supervisor was with Steve practically all of those 33 years. And his supervisor, as he hired new housekeeping staff, Steve would many times be the one training them, showing them around and training them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

How amazing. I'm just like what so what was like the most, I know you said you didn't know a lot about Stephen. What was the most I don't know, the word that comes to mind, kind of like mind-blowing, shocking, you know, just inspirational thing that you learned about Stephen through, you know, talking to your parents, talking to your brother and sister. What would be like the most inspirational piece of Stephen that you didn't know that you learned in writing this book?

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Yeah, how quickly he was to forgive. Because while the book is is truly a beautiful story, it's very heartwarming. And readers have said it makes them laugh and cry, but readers have also said it makes them mad because I have two chapters in there, Kristen. Two chapters, both called Vultures That Circle. And in Stephen's adult life, when we couldn't keep an eye on him 24-7, he lived semi-independently in a tiny little apartment clear near the hospital where he worked. People took advantage of Steve. You know, people can be evil. And when people see someone vulnerable like Stephen, who just doesn't know better, who can't always discern someone as a con artist or

Exploitation, Court Fights, And Radical Forgiveness

SPEAKER_02 29:44

taking advantage of them, they did. There's some unpleasant stories to read that readers have said to me really infuriated them, who stole from Stephen, a guy who beat Stephen up just about once a week to take him, uh take his money from him after he went to the bank. And when Steve didn't want to give it, he beat him up, literally. And so there were and and my parents had to take some people to court, and two people ended up in jail for their crimes against Stephen. They fought for Stephen in every way you can imagine. But what was amazing to me is how Stephen would forgive, because I knew about some of the abuse, and I confronted one individual, confronted him about the abuse. But you know, no matter how much he hurt Stephen or somebody hurt him, Steve would always just take him back because he didn't know malice, Steve didn't know hatred. He would be like, you know, I would say, Stephen, don't trust him anymore. And Stephen would say to me, He's my friend, but he's my friend. And I'm like, Stephen, he's really not. He just didn't have the ability to understand that. So Stephen would just forgive people who hurt him and he would take them back, including one remarkable story of his first wife. Stephen did get married to a woman, but she only took advantage of him after three years of marriage. And and even when he had to divorce her, and we helped him through that process, she had no place to live for a while. And so she came knocking on Steve's door and he took her back in for a while. You know, he just his ability to love unconditionally, forgive quickly, hold no malice. Man, that's that is Christ-like.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

And when I saw that in Stephen, I wanted to be a better human being too. I just wanted to be able to be that way. Kind, gentle, but I have the ability to discern too. And poor Steve did not. Yeah, if I can share one more powerful God, a very powerful God moment. I'll make this one quick. It's in my book, chapter eight. There's a chapter called God Don't Make No Junk. And it was going through those awkward pre-adolescent years, you know, when you're 12 and 13 and your hormones are raging and pimples are popping up and your voice is squeaky and you're nerdy and weird and awkward, and everything's awkward. I confess in the book, my faults too. I wasn't the perfect brother. I was not. I confess that, you know, that was those moments where I wasn't always prepared to explain Stephen to people because everybody would ask, What's wrong with your brother? And it was just an awkward question,

God Don’t Make No Junk

SPEAKER_02 32:34

and I never had a good answer. Never. And sometimes I was embarrassed. And sometimes, yes, even felt ashamed because I was just a gangly teenager who didn't know better. One Sunday morning, Reverend Bruce Morgan at our church preached the sermon, God Don't Make No Junk, because the church had a beautiful ministry at that time for people like Stephen and others. That's why my parents wanted to go to that church, because they had many intellectually disabled children and adults attending. It's a beautiful ministry that they had. And some of the church people were getting a little bit leery of it because it was growing. And there was more and more special needs people in worship. Sometimes, you know, you can't predict the noises they will make or the outbursts they will have. And people were starting to freak out. And poor Reverend Morgan was starting to catch some flack from people, and he'd had enough of it. So with Psalm 139, verse 14, I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well. He took to the pulpit and he gave people a very righteous, kind dressing down about how all people, including the ones in our ministry of this church, are created beautifully, fearfully, purposefully by God. And we better see them that way. And that was a life-changing moment for me because I sat there and heard this. And I never again felt embarrassed or ashamed. I actually felt proud. And I from I swear to you, from that day on, I was proud to introduce Stephen. And when people said, What's wrong with your brother? I'd be like, Nothing's wrong. This nothing's wrong. This is Stephen. He's my brother. And that's that's what I would say. Nothing's wrong. So I was proud of him.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Message completely shifted everything for you.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Oh, it did. And it shifted things for the church too, Kristen. Yeah. Reverend Morgan would tell me that years later, Reverend Morgan said, People kind of got off their high horses and their country club mentality, and they recognized that if Jesus was here in this church, he'd be doing the same thing. He'd be ministering to me.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Happy.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yeah. It was a beautiful moment, and I was just never embarrassed again. It changed my thinking about my brother from that day forward. So God don't make no junk. It's a quote from an old jazz musician and singer. She said that about herself. She says, I know I'm special. God don't make no junk. And that's true. That's true of all.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

I've never heard that before. So do you feel like how how do you so at that moment, like everything changed for you, and the congregation changed, but just even going through your own life, how has Stephen impacted you just in the way of who God created you to be, even? I I hear you speaking about him now, and like how has his impact marked you in your life?

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah, after you know, the book after it was published had an impact that I didn't expect. I I I it didn't. Kristen, I thought I was kind of writing a book that I knew my family would love and friends of our family would love, and I thought that'd be the end of it. I had no idea the impact and the way the book would fall into the hands of hundreds of people, the invitations I would get to come and share Stephen's story at libraries and at bookstores and at book festivals and in churches. Suddenly I found myself in a new ministry. You said no longer retired, but refired. And suddenly I found God calling me back around to, hey,

A Refired Calling For Disability Dignity

SPEAKER_02 36:19

this is your new ministry. You need to speak for these individuals and help Christians especially remember who God is and how God makes all of his creation with purpose and intent and with and as a masterpiece. That's Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. You know, we are his handiwork. And some of the Greek translations talks about masterpiece. Stephen was a masterpiece in my mind. And I'm just trying to share that story to give parents who have children like Stephen hope and siblings like me hope. And no longer being embarrassed, but I want to inspire people, and I want to inspire everyone, whether they know a disabled person or not, to see these people as yes, they're different, but they're not less.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

That's my new mission.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

I mean, we're all different.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Yeah, I know, right? Isn't that great?

SPEAKER_01 37:12

I always tell people, like, put your and I go cross-eyed when I do this, but like put your finger in front of your face. Nobody has the same fingerprint. Yeah, I need a remarkable. That's a reminder. Like it's right here. Put it in front of you. You're different. And unfortunately, the world tries to kind of mold us into different, you know, labels. Again, speaking back of labels, like here's your label, here's your group, here's this group. Do you fit in any? I I think we we need to really be reminded, we are all different.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. And one of the awards.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Oh, go ahead. I think my internet's being a little wonky right now. I'll let you know.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Just a little bit. Yeah, sorry. But one of the one of the awards for the book that I just won that I'm now, oh my gosh, super blessed and proud of. Was I won the an award for the book being included among five award winners called the Impact Book Awards, Positive Impact Book Awards. It's a national award. I was one of five that won for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because in the book, I do I do go farther than talking about the disabled community. I talk about seeing every human being, black, white, Hispanic, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter religion, it doesn't matter nationality, it doesn't matter culture. God created a beautiful, colorful tapestry in this world. And he did it on purpose. And we need to love that and respect that because it comes from God.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

So good. Well, you are absolutely making an impact. And I'm giving you an award today. Oh well. The Hope Unlocked Award. I've never given a Hope Unlocked Award, but you're getting a Hope Unlocked Award today.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

So thank you. Seriously, that means a lot.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Thank you. Beautiful. Like I think of you know, watching Temple, that movie. There's another movie that I watched recently, maybe in the last few years, and I can't remember the name of the movie, but it's about a little boy who wanted to play baseball, and he like had the crutches on the do you know what movie I'm talking about? I don't. But the dad, the dad didn't want him to play baseball.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

And oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

He totally defied all I'll have to look it up and put it in the show notes.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

And he did end up playing baseball. Good for him.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

He did, yeah. And there were so many people that were just like, you can't do this. And I am such a proponent. Like, if somebody tells you you can't do something, prove them wrong.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Prove them wrong. So in this time of being refired, has there been any any thoughts or have you had anybody come and say, like, you can't do this? Have you had any opposition?

SPEAKER_02 40:18

No, I haven't. I haven't. What I have had is I've traveled, I call it my little own mini book tour. I didn't know I was going to be on a little mini book tour, but it's been fun. What has blessed me is hearing people's stories. When they come to see me at a book fair and I'm and I'm they're buying a book and I'm signing their book. I love listening to their story. Because I don't want to just sit there and talk about Stephen all the time. It's fun, but what but then they open up, and I hope that hope's being unlocked for them through Stephen's story. I know that it will be, but then I get to listen to their story about their sibling or their child or their grandchild or their neighbor or their cousin or whoever it is. And I've heard some just some beautiful stories, beautiful stories. And people pick up the book. And again, you don't have to have a person with a disability in your life to read this story. You do not. You just have to believe in humankind and in God's purposeful intent for all of us. All of us.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

Yeah, yes. Oh my gosh. So as you're saying that, you're capturing stories. Have you ever thought about having a podcast yourself?

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Oh no, I haven't. I I I actually haven't. I'm having too much fun talking to people like you.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Okay. Okay. Just a little thing to put on the little shelf of possibilities. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

You're planting a seed. It might get watered. It might grow.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

I love planting seeds.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

I know you do.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Well, I would love for you to share. I hope my internet, I feel like it's getting a little wonky. So I would love for you to share what is the best way for people to get a hold of you. And and now that you're re-fired, you know, what would you love to be doing? Like, are you looking for more speaking engagements? Are you looking for churches to speak at? If somebody's listening, like how could somebody come alongside you on this journey if that's what you're looking for?

SPEAKER_02 42:16

I am looking for more opportunities to share this story about disability dignity. I absolutely am. And my fee is perfect. It's zero dollars. I charge nothing. I was invited a while back to a university when I spoke to a large

How To Connect And Invite Stuart

SPEAKER_02 42:34

class of future special education teachers. I don't charge a fee. I would love to be invited to your book club. I met with a book club in Michigan of eight people, and that was so much fun to sit around and talk about the book. They read it and we talked about it. And being on podcasts or invited to bookstores. I just was invited to a library about 50 miles away, and I'm going to go meet with that group of their book club who's reading the book right now. I'm just looking for those opportunities to bring about awareness, disability dignity, and disability inclusion awareness. So you can reach me real easy. Go to my website because there's a contact form to reach me. My website's www, of course, dot authorstewartjones.com. And Stuart is S-T-U-A-R-T, as we talked about my name earlier. Author Stuart Jones, all one word.com. Please come and visit me and let's let's chat. Let's talk.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Yes. Well, you are such a joy. I'm like movie, podcasts. There's a lot. There's a lot here. I just want to do that.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

Well, you're a beautiful coach, and then you're giving me all these great coaching ideas. Well, thank you for that.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Just pray about it. So as I mentioned before, I I do this for the one. So if you could just get into mind like the one who's listening in today, we don't know where they are. They they may need just a super dose of hope. What what else what other like words of wisdom or encouragement would you like to just briefly give this person today?

SPEAKER_02 44:12

I think the first thing I just, yeah, thanks for asking. The thing that popped into my head was something my mother said as I was interviewing her for the book. She said, uh, when she was talking about hearing all the doom and gloom constantly from even the Purdue Research Group, just all the doom and gloom, what he'll never be. She said, and I would pass this on to your listeners, you can listen to the advice and the diagnosis or any prognosis.

Discernment When The World Says No

SPEAKER_02 44:39

You don't have to subscribe to it. You have, she said, your father and I, Stuart, listened to some of it and it sounded right. Others of it, we let it go right out one in one ear and out the other. We knew it wasn't who our boy was, and we didn't, we wouldn't gonna believe it. So use your power of discernment. And even though you're hearing advice from so many others, you've gonna you've gotta discern the good advice from the advice that you don't believe is true, and you know in your heart is not right. So keep hope alive as much as Barack Obama would always say. But by doing that, you can also uh you can have hope unlocked in your life if you just ask God to help you discern the good advice from the advice you don't need.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

So good. You are such a joy. Thank you so much for being a brave voice who's setting so many free. Thank you. I am going to close with our hope unlocked anchoring verse. It's may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. And that's Romans 15, 13. Thank you so much again. I will be back with another episode next week. Thanks, listeners. Bye.