DR TICH TANYANYIWA

By Keegan Chipato

Dr. Tich, your name is widely associated with sheer greatness. Your vast credentials are clearly shown in your work both as a minister and entrepreneur. Could you give us some insight into your entrepreneurial and ministerial journey?

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my story. By no means do I consider myself a man of sheer greatness. The heart has always been to serve a great God with all my heart and in doing this He began to work in and through me. This is an amazing honor for God to use someone who was a write off by human standards.

I have been in ministry for 27 years, and 20 of those years have been full time ministry. I served as a youth pastor then a branch pastor 16 years and have been a senior pastor for 11 years. God has used us to plant 12 churches (South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the DRC) I currently have apostolic oversight over four churches.

In the business arena we have 12 businesses nine of which are operational. We are into publishing, coaching, consultancy, training, filmmaking, gaming, and education.

The passion to develop people has resulted in the publication of 22 books with thousands of books in circulation. The books focus on economic empowerment, success, relationship management, and personal growth.

You are a greatly sought-after keynote speaker, especially when it pertains to economic freedom, wealth creation, transformational leadership, success, and personal development. Could you explain to us what pushed you to start this amazing journey as a speaker?

The journey began with an encounter with God. I had a desperate need for real answers for personal crisis and a need to help those I pastored. I was tired of the religious excuses I kept hearing in some pulpit rhetoric and said there must be answers in the Bible. I had a dramatic encounter with God in a meeting in Bulawayo where God spoke to me in a message given in tongues. I received the interpretation to this message and God said to me, “Son, go and tell the church, there is come to the Body of Christ a financial revival. Men and women will be anointed to create wealth. They will get out of debt and step into increase, and they will become Kingdom financiers”.

This message totally changed the trajectory of my life. I began studying the Word to understand what a financial revival is, the research resulted in the books and the books opened the doors to the nations. A raw passion to study the Word of God and help people understand scripture as a contemporary tool for transformation is the motivation behind what I do. I was trained up by Dr. Shana to ask,

1. What was God’s original plan?

2. What went wrong?

3.What did God do to correct this?

These questions have guided me throughout my ministry journey.

You’re an anointed teacher of the Torah who enjoys bringing out ancient wisdom for high impact living. In your capacity as a teacher, you have travelled across the continent of Africa teaching and equipping people with a bold dynamic apostolic message of wealth and economic mastery. How best would you describe your experiences over the years as a teacher?

My experience as a teacher of the Word of God has been a wonderful one. I have grown tremendously and seen amazing results in my own life. I am my number one student. In fact, I write my books for me more than anyone else.

I have however, faced some challenges in that most believers are lazy and are not willing to study the Word of God as they should. I would say probably 90% of the body of believers are not willing to invest an hour of personal study of the Word. No wonder most believers are in debt, distress and are discontent about where they are in life. Church services are getting shorter, people are getting busier with life and studying the Word of God is no longer a priority. I feel it is part of my life assignment to bring believers back into diligently studying the Word of God.

You are a multifaceted person. You have authored a plethora of impactful books over the years. In addition to that, you’re an entrepreneur, coach, a family man and a highly regarded mentor. How do you manage all the pressure associated with your various roles and the busy schedules that ensue?

This is my major weakness. I am a workaholic. God has been dealing with me on this subject. However, I have managed by having a great team around me. My wife, Dr. Princisca runs the operations of all we do and that has helped me stay sane. My PA Thandie and director Bheki have helped greatly over the years to ensure that things run well on the ground.

I wish I could say it’s been easy, but that would not be accurate. Greatness does not come cheap, so we are paying the price to become great for the Kingdom of God.

Dr. Tich, we also understand that you once met with one of the world’s greatest leadership experts, “the late Dr. Myles Munroe”. Were you starstruck and what if anything at all do you remember about the encounter?

Naturally I was in awe when I met this great general who I had only read about and seen on television. Meeting him was a dream come true. My spiritual Father Apostle Nicky van der Westhuizen had prophesied that I was going to be like a Myles Munroe from Africa, so it was a significant encounter.

Interestingly the most outstanding thing about Dr. Myles was his love for people. He made time to love, embrace and encourage people everywhere we went. Whether it was a concierge at a hotel or the manager of the hotel he made time for people. The protocol team often tried to stop people from coming near him, but he insisted on meeting and contacting people.

Secondly his humility was amazing. I flew with him on private jets, and I knew this man commanded great respect, but he was so humble and human. Thirdly his wisdom was so deep and practical. We had conversations that left me awestruck and caused me to pull out my Bible while flying thousands of feet in the air just to check the scriptures. These things made the great hero stand out as one of the greatest people I have ever met.

Achieving greatness often requires persistence and resilience. Most people shy away at the first sign of trouble, but you are the polar opposite. How is it that you never gave up despite the many challenges you endured along the way?

I was taught to run my life based on a clear compelling vision. Because of this I have always been clear about where I am going despite the storms that came against me. I always keep my eyes on the vision and pursue it regardless of the circumstances around me.

Secondly, my wife has been an amazing pillar. She always says, “quitting is not an option”. This rings in my mind when the tough times come. Thirdly, when I look at my children and realize that I have a responsibility to teach them life, I am keenly aware of the fact that I cannot quit. I must teach them to fight until they win. This lesson can never be a theoretical one, they must see it lived out.

Finally, my spiritual father is a constant voice of encouragement. He will not allow to even accommodate the thought of quitting. He has invested so much into who is am today. From wisdom, prayer, financial support, and encouragement. I encourage everyone to develop a strong relationship with their spiritual covering.

As previously alluded, greatness is usually preceded by challenges which require resilience. Could you kindly tell us about some of the steepest challenges and hurdles you encountered during your career and life in general?

I would say the greatest challenge I have faced was when circumstances led to me losing my job, what really hurt was losing the relationships that I had built over many years. God was gracious to restore and help in rebuilding this. But I believe the greatest assets we have in life are relationships.

Another challenge I faced was when I nearly died of high blood pressure. I was overworking, and not managing my schedule well. Sleep apnoea set in, and my system began to deteriorate. Death came knocking and thank God, He rescued me.

The last challenge I will mention happened when our ministry went through spiritual and economic turbulence. As a minister called to speak on finances, we had always seen a strong flow of finances. Our ministry was turning over millions annually with a membership of 350400 people. We had an 80% tithing ratio which is rare. Then all hell broke loose, and we found ourselves in debt and crisis. This gave us the opportunity to practice the principles we had been teaching and we discovered that the Word of God works.

Final word on this. Challenges are a part of the journey to greatness. In fact, the greater the challenges we face the greater we become. Without challenges we remain mediocre.

I often say, “Mediocrity is cheap that is why everyone can afford it, greatness comes at a cost and not everyone is willing to pay the price”.

Thank you so much Dr. Tich, it’s been amazing interviewing you. Before we conclude, would you kindly fill us in on some of your future aspirations.

The following are some of the key areas I am working on currently

1. I want to plant churches on every African country.

2. I want to raise leaders to run these churches.

3. I want these churches to become economic hubs that eradicate poverty in their respective communities.

4. I want to see socio, Economic and political transformation on the African continent.

Thank you for the honor to serve your readers. I pray that this interview will inspire some faith and encouragement to the Body of Christ.