This Present Darkness

The primary protagonist, Hank Busche is the recently installed pastor of Ashton Community Church, replacing the previous pastor, who (Hank will come to find out) had been harassed and driven out of the community on false charges. Hank is a young man, married to his wife, Mary, who is optimistic, steadfast, loyal, honest, and possessed of just enough courage to begin standing against the encroaching evil descending on Ashton.

Hank’s character arc does not follow a development in character from one moral category to another, but it does follow his development from the naivety of being a new pastor in a new city to his eventual blossoming as an experienced, loving, and courageous man willing to defend his wife, his church community, and his town. Described by the demons as the “praying man,” Hank is the catalyst that leads Ashton’s Christian community to engage itself in the spiritual warfare into which they had been thrust and proves to be the central figure in creating an environment of faith in which the angels guarding the town find enough power to prove victorious against the various demonic and human forces intent on destroying everything good in Ashton.