This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
Week 3: Hank Under Fire — The Cost of Standing
Read the sections focusing on Hank Busch's escalating opposition from the town, the college administration, and from within his own congregation. Key Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-5; 1 Peter 5:6-11; John 15:18-21.
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Hank Busch is a young pastor who never signed up for a spiritual war — he's just trying to hold a small church together, and the resistance he encounters will test everything he thought he knew about ministry.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Hank faces opposition from the town authorities, social pressure from community leaders, and spiritual attack in the form of discouragement and doubt. Which of these forms of opposition do you think is most difficult to withstand, and why?
2.Peretti depicts Hank's moments of doubt and near-despair honestly — he is not a superhero. He questions whether he's in the right place, whether God is listening, whether anything he does matters. How does this honest portrayal of pastoral struggle affect your reading of the novel? How does it compare to what you see in 1 Peter 5:6-11?
3.Some members of Hank's congregation become instruments of pressure — questioning his leadership, sympathizing with the opposition, and making him feel unstable. Read 2 Timothy 4:3-4: 'For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching...' How does this passage illuminate what Hank is experiencing? Have you ever been in a community — a church, a family, a workplace — where this dynamic was at work?
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