DARLINGTON — The moment of clarity for Nick Hitt came one day in a bedroom in Baltimore, where he was getting high with his wife, Tanaya, and their friends.
“I came out and said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’ and they stopped talking,” Hitt said, “and my wife looked at me — and what I didn’t know then is that she thought I was talking about suicide. She asked me, ‘What do you mean?’”
“And I said, ‘I don’t want to live like this anymore. I do not know what’s going on, but I want to start going to church.’ When I said that, the two friends that we had there — they stood up, they left.”
Weeks earlier, Hitt, the recently installed pastor of Darlington Christian Church, who struggled with drug use, had seen a Discovery Channel documentary about the Biblical book of Joshua. The show inspired Hitt, who grew up in a non-religious family in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, to read a copy of the King James Bible they kept at home.
“Jesus came into mine and my family’s life, but at a very terrible time. We were basically living a prodigal life completely,” he said.
Hitt and his wife, who was raised in Hamilton County, found a church similar to one he had visited as a child. They were baptized a couple of months later.
“Jesus saved our marriage,” Hitt said.
The experience led Hitt to pursue a career in ministry. After completing his seminary studies at Regent University in Virginia, he saw an online posting for the minister’s position in Darlington.
Hitt preached his first sermon to the congregation in November. The rest of the family settled in Darlington last month after the couple’s oldest son graduated high school.
“I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit of love of Jesus throughout this town like never seen before. I want to see His light in the community and bring joy into just this little piece of the world that we called on.”
For more information about Darlington Christian Church, call the office at 765-794-4558 or connect with them via Facebook.
