Dr. Rich Ganz is a long-time pastor, biblical counselor, husband, father, and grandfather. Dr. Ganz is also a best-selling author and conference speaker. He integrates over three decades of intensive biblical study, nearly a decade of psychology training and practice, long-term pastoral ministry, and 35 years of passionate Christian commitment. He recently sat down with an editor of the Witness to discuss his new book, Take Charge of Your Life.

Could you give a brief introduction to your ministry?

Dr. Ganz: I’m in my 29th year working in one congregation, seeing people coming to faith, their children coming to faith, growing up, and having children of their own. It is exciting for me to be part of a ministry like that. I have a wife and four children and two grandchildren, so I’m blessed in what God has done in our life as a family and in our ministry. Life is wonderful and exciting for me, and extraordinary.

You’ve written several other books. What are they, and could you tell us about their genesis?

Dr. Ganz: The first book I wrote was a book against abortion, Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Christian Case Against Abortion. I wrote a book on biblical freedom called Free Indeed, dealing with the brokenness in people’s lives and breaking free of that bondage. I wrote a book on the church and its infatuation with the whole self-esteem movement and self-ism, and that was a critique as well called Sold Out. I wrote that with Bill Edgar, another pastor in our denomination. I wrote the book Psychobabble, and that, I believe, is my last critical book. That was critical of the whole contemporary psychological/psychiatric movement, the whole secularism and humanism that inundates and plagues contemporary Western life. People have failed to see how they can live a life that is beautiful and pleasing without getting immersed in either a drug regiment or an addiction, or, if not to the drugs, an addiction to secular counseling, which digs deep into the past of people’s lives, as if that past somehow will recover for them the opportunity and ability to live in the present.

I wrote The Secret of Self Control, which was a trigger for this book, because I was concerned about how we think, and the failure to take our thought processes captive, and the damage that such a failure produces in our lives. I wrote 20 Controversies That Almost Killed the Church, which was the exposition of 20 of the more serious controversies that Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians.

Now there is Take Charge of Your Life. A book that’s coming out soon that I’m nearly finished with is, Today Is Your Life, which is, for me, the sequel to Take Charge of Your Life. In that book I’m concerned that we learn how to live today and not put on hold what God wants for us today. Today is our life—let’s make it count.

Do you see a flow to the books you’ve written, or were they written each to address a certain need along the way?

Dr. Ganz: I see a flow that has developed, even though each was written for a certain need. As I look back on my own writing history and career in writing, I see that everything has helped me to move to where I am in this book, because this book climaxes movement in my own life. I see that the need of the hour for the church isn’t programs, it isn’t process, it isn’t movements, it isn’t change for change’s sake. It is embracing what God calls us to, which is an extraordinary life. Everything that I was working on was dealing with what our life was meant to be. It’s not meant to be an ordinary life. We’re not called to ordinariness. We are sons and daughters of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This means that He wants us to live a life that shines, that steps out of the shadows of the murky bog of mundane, boring sense of uselessness and helplessness and hopelessness, emerging into the light of glory and gospel victory and power.

That is—I want to say this in the most humble way—what my life is about. That’s what I want to share with others. That’s what I know God wants for His people. I’m not talking about doctrines, I’m not talking about denominations, I’m talking about living. Jesus calls us to l’chaim—that’s abundant life. This book is about the abundance that we have in Jesus, to be the men and women and boys and girls that He delights in seeing us be.

And that is, of course, pure life, and so attractive and so powerful. But once you start talking about that, there are going to be a lot of counterfeiters preaching that same message. For example, how is that different from what Joel Osteen is saying?

Dr. Ganz: If I were to take one aspect that is overarching to me, it’s this: the abundance that he calls people to is very much a carnal abundance—that we can turn ourselves over to God and receive blessings that will make us wealthy, make us healthy, make us prosperous. This is not what I’m speaking about. The extraordinary life can come in the face of such physical prosperity, but it most often seems to be shown in the hardship and adversity. That’s where the battle is worked out. Our circumstances must never be at the place where we expect that if God “blesses me” then I can go on with life, “if God takes away this disease,” or “[if God] gives my child back to me in the way that I want my child to be,” or “[if God] gives me the promotion I’ve been looking for.” Instead, I’m talking about abundance, and a life of service, and a life of sacrifice, and a life of love.

We live in a world where people are desperate to be loved. We have the basis to bring that love that brings abundance into people’s lives. We need to train ourselves to do this. It isn’t something that comes naturally; it’s something that comes supernaturally. So I’m not saying if you follow my book you’re going to pay off your debt. We may never pay off all our debts on this earth, although we should. But we can certainly learn—in the face of the indebtedness that we have, to look to the holy God of heaven for what He’s paid for us—that we, in whatever adversity, whatever difficulty, whatever circumstance in which we find ourselves, can live a life that is filled with joy, that is attractive to this world, as well as being invigorating and special in ourselves and to ourselves.

There are a lot of people who say, “That’s what I want, that’s what I’ve been hoping for, what I’ve been hoping my walk of discipleship will become. I’m not there yet and I can’t seem to get to the next step. I’ve read things, I’ve heard things, but I can’t get to the next step.” Do you address that?

Dr. Ganz: Let me address it differently here than I address it in the book. This morning, while my friends may have been sleeping, I was in the gym. I was working out because it does profit a little bit. How does it profit me a little bit? It gives me the body and the strength to do extra things like write this book.

The book itself is about the same process. If we want something, we should never assume it’s going to come easily. There’s always a cost. If someone wants a life of godly abundance, they shouldn’t assume, lying on the couch watching American Idol, that they’re going to be zapped into abundant holiness. It comes with a life of dedication, consecration, commitment, and exercising the disciplines of grace that are revealed to us in God’s Word. Those take us from where we are to where we want to be. And it’s a step-by-step process. Anyone who tells you it’s easy [is lying to you.] If you want to lose weight and a person stands up and says, “here’s an easy diet,” then they’re lying. Don’t do it. If I said, “Here’s how you can get into shape like I’m in shape in just five minutes a day three times a week,” I’d be lying to you.

I’d be lying to you if I said that what I’m teaching is an easy approach. It is for the most important thing in our life: to be like Jesus Christ. And it is worth everything to achieve that goal. Paul said, “I discipline my body and make it my slave so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27). He’s talking about a battle plan in which he’s willing to surrender all that stands in the way so that he can achieve all that is in Jesus Christ for him. This is a goal that is worth everything, because it is worth everything to become conformed to Jesus Christ.

You have a heart to reach certain kinds of people with this book. Tell us about that.

Dr. Ganz: I have a heart to reach two groups. One is the broader evangelical Christian group, especially those within that group who are influenced by the people you have mentioned earlier in the interview. I want them to see the fullness of what a life which is hid with Christ in God is all about, and not to hope that abundance in living will bring them something other than the deepest joy in Jesus. I want the broader evangelical community that is in love with easy believe-ism, easy sanctification-ism, easiness to the Christian life, to see that this is a vocatio, a calling. This is our life. This is what matters.

The second group is the body of people outside the Christian community. I believe my book can touch them and reach them. I don’t shirk the necessity of dealing with sin. I don’t believe that those who want to contextualize the gospel by saying sin is something people don’t understand, and thus if you want to reach people outside of the body of Christ you should remove that language from your vernacular. Everyone knows what sin is. Everyone knows what hell is. If they’re suppressing that truth in unrighteousness, I want people to hear it, but in a way that they know they’re not being judged, they’re not being damned, they’re not being condemned. Rather, they are being invited, they’re being embraced, into something that will open their hearts to life from the face of death. I speak with people every day. They know deep down that there’s a judging, they know there is sin. They may not call it sin, but they’re not unaware when I say “sin.” They know what they’re dealing with. They know the hopelessness they experience, they know the loss they experience, they know the wastedness and meaninglessness of their lives. And they are looking for answers.

They’re looking! That’s why the self-help books of Phil McGraw, Rick Warren, Tony Robbins, Joel Osteen, and Stephen Covey are selling tens of millions of copies. They are reaching far and wide. I want people to see that there is a goal that’s much deeper than what is being spoken of in those books—more encompassing of their life, more fulfilling in their walk, and more hopeful in its outcome and result. And yet, their circumstances may get worse and worse. That’s just the way it is. That’s the way it was for our Lord. Everything that happened to Him was a deepening of adversity, until the depth of His shame and humiliation on the cross, not even on the cross but in the tomb. Our Lord was buried! Think about that. That’s why the Bible speaks about our burial with Christ; that’s part of our identification. We shouldn’t shirk the pain and the suffering of evil circumstances that may come our way, because these are used, if our sanctification and discipleship process is really biblically oriented, to learn how to really live through the face of what seems to be damning and damaging terrors that come upon us.

You’ve touched on this a little, but how does the fact that you’re a Reformed Presbyterian pastor effect what you’re trying to do?

Dr. Ganz: I continue to be excited to be in the Reformed Presbyterian Church with the vast treasure house of excellence that is in it. I am privileged to serve with the men who serve in this church who humble me in their desire for godliness and their expression of it. I am indebted to the Reformed doctrine that I’ve learned since coming into the Reformed Presbyterian Church. This has been the only church I’ve ever been a member in, and I’ve been a Christian for 36 years this Oct. 16. What I am, spiritually, to a huge extent, I owe to what I’ve received from the labors of those who have come before me, and all I can say is I’m indebted, I’m privileged, and I’m thankful.

Are there other topic areas that you think we should be sure to cover?

Dr. Ganz: I believe that we truly in a biblical sense are empowered by God, so that we learn how to take charge of our lives and not let our lives just fritter away into stupidity and nothingness. What we learn is that we live our lives out day by day. We don’t live them out week by week. We don’t live them out month by month, year by year, or decade by decade. We can have the 10-year plan and God says, “You fool, this day your soul is required of you.” So what I would like to address, in answering that question, is the importance for me of today. From the instant that we open our eyes, we can tell what our day is going to be like if we say, “ugh, another rotten-looking day,” or, “oh, it’s too cold,” or “it’s too hot,” or “it’s too demanding,” or “it’s too empty,” instead of saying, “this is the day that the Lord has made. Let me rejoice and be glad in it.” We are actually living, in the land of the living, today, with all the opportunity and possibility. And all we have to do is say, “God, show me where, what, and with whom I am going to be during this day, and give me Your grace to live it fully for You.” By doing so, many people are amazed at the change in their life.

When you talk about the content of your book, you talk as someone who has experienced the crucible, that you’re not just giving us theory, that perhaps you’ve been broken, you’ve gone through trials and tribulations in your life.

Dr. Ganz: Absolutely. If people allowed themselves to be vulnerable, I don’t know who has not. My wife, Nancy, looks at me and wonders at times how I seem to have a life of joy and excitement with the kinds of things I’ve had to face. She jokingly says that I’ve probably been hit so many times that I’m punch drunk. There may be some truth to that. But others that I know that get hit and say, “you know, I just feel like I want out.” I don’t. I tell them, “let’s not think that way.” Once we start thinking that way, we are out. These battles, these sufferings, are for our good, that we are perfected by them.

James says in chapter one, “Consider it pure joy when you suffer trials of many kinds.” And then Paul says in Romans 5 that “tribulations bring about perseverance.” That means the ability to stand. The only way we can learn to stand in Jesus is to face the sufferings of Christ, and to suffer along with Him in our lives. We all want to be able to learn perseverance without the difficulty, but that’s not the biblical prescription.

Once we learn the biblical plan—which is all I want to do in my book, to teach that plan—we don’t fight against the trials and the tribulations. Tribulation means crushing pressures. Well, that’s what tribulation is like. It’s crushing us. And we don’t have to be crushed. Paul deals with this: “I’m beaten down but I’m not crushed. I’m perplexed but I’m not despairing.” And so here’s the joy in it. We get to the other side of those troubles. We can look back and see that those troubles were the root by which here I stand, in a kind of glory—I’m still standing, I’m still trusting, I’m still believing. These things didn’t defeat me; these things empowered me.

Are there other areas of the book that you think we should talk about?

Dr. Ganz: One of the endorsers of this book wrote something that was very interesting. It isn’t what I would call the most highly extolling commentary about the book. Professor Derek Thomas from Reformed Theological Seminary [in Jackson, Miss.], says, “Take Charge of Your Life is a winning combination. It helps reform and strengthen biblical Christian discipleship.” I was excited when I read that. Because that’s what life in Christ is. It is discipleship. I think one of the problems we have in being a discipling church—and it’s something that God is teaching me at this point—is that we look at discipleship as something that we do, first and foremost, to others. And it fails often because we haven’t learned how to be discipled ourselves.

In the introduction I say, “I’m here to be your coach.” You can call it a coach, you can call it a trainer, you can call it a discipler, you can call it a mentor, you can call it an elder, you can call it a pastor, you can call it a father. The idea is, people first need to see how their own lives are being nurtured, disciplined, trained, and developed, before they can go out and actually have an impact for godly biblical change in other people’s lives. This isn’t a book for you to teach others; it’s a book for you to teach yourself.