Thad gripped the Bible on his lap as he sat on the couch, staring blankly at the twinkling Christmas lights on the bushes across the street. Usually he loved the lights, but Pastor Griffin's words at the emergency meeting last night had completely sapped his holiday spirit. Jason, the youth pastor who had totally energized their youth group over the past two and a half years, had resigned. His fiancée, Courtney, was pregnant.

The news stunned Thad. As youth group president, he'd spent a lot of time with Jason, and he thought Jason was practically the perfect Christian. He had whole chapters of Scripture memorized, led amazing worship times, and preached better than Pastor Griffin. Youth group membership had tripled since he arrived. Courtney helped out with the group, too, leading a Bible study for the girls. They seemed so solid, so faithful. Thad couldn't be more disappointed and hurt.

In a few minutes, other student leaders in the youth group, plus an adult sponsor, would fill his family's living room for an emergency meeting of their own. Jason had planned a huge outreach event for the Saturday before Christmas—just one week away. Posters were all over town, and the church had even bought an ad on the local Christian radio station. Jason was supposed to give the gospel message. It was his picture on the posters, his voice on the radio.

Oh, Lord, Thad prayed miserably, what are we going to do?

After everyone found seats, they instinctively looked at Mr. Draper, a geology teacher who had volunteered with the youth group for years. He had been at the meeting the night before, along with the student leaders and their parents, but he hadn't said anything yet.

"Before yesterday, I'm sure none of you thought you'd be here having this discussion," Mr. Draper began.

You got that right, Thad thought.

Mr. Draper continued, "I'm feeling a lot of different things right now. I could spend the next two hours just talking about that, but that's not what we're here for. I'm here to support you. You're here to discuss how to lead this group through some tough weeks and months ahead. Like Pastor Griffin said last night, he and I and the church elders will tell the congregation that Jason and Courtney have stepped down from leadership for personal reasons. Anyone who feels like they need to know more can ask us. But as far as what the youth group does, this is not our group—it's your group, and God's group. I'm going to go ahead and ask God's guidance for this meeting and then, Thad, you take over."

Thad swallowed hard. It was difficult to concentrate on Mr. Draper's prayer. His biggest challenge as president so far had been deciding how many pizzas to order for the fall kick-off. What did he really know about being a spiritual leader?

When Mr. Draper had finished, Thad started to speak slowly, his voice all shaky. "Thanks, um, for coming. I don't have an agenda or anything, but I think the biggest issue is what to do for the outreach event—first, if we should have it at all, and second, if we do, who's going to speak instead of Jason."

At first, none of the other students—Gina, Andrea, Celeste, Will, and Nathan—said anything. Then Gina broke the silence.

"I think we should still have something, but maybe not as big," she said. "I mean, stop the radio ad and take down the posters, but don't completely cancel."

"Why not?" Nathan asked. "People would understand if we canceled. And it would be a lot easier than coming up with a new program in one week."

"It wouldn't have to be a whole new program," Gina countered. "The living nativity part could stay the same—we already have costumes and parts and everything. And we could still have the carols. The musicians have been working on those for a month. All we'd need is a new speaker."

"And people to actually show up," Celeste cut in. "The elders can use that line about 'personal reasons'—no offense, Mr. Draper—but everyone's going to figure out what happened. All those people who say Christians are just hypocrites—this proves them right."

"Just because somebody sinned doesn't make them a hypocrite," Will said somewhat defensively.

"After all that talk about purity on the ski trip last year?" Celeste shot back. "You bet it does."

Thad sensed the group getting into dangerous territory. "What people are going to say and think about Jason and Courtney and our church is an issue, but it's not something we can really control. Attendance might be down, but I agree with Gina that we should have something. People have already worked hard, and besides, the event was never supposed to be about how great Jason is and why you should join our youth group. If the point was to get people to think about Jesus at Christmastime, that's still important, right?"

Impressed or surprised (Thad couldn't tell which) by this unusually bold speech, everyone nodded. So Thad continued.

"OK, keep the outdoor nativity—people can just drive by and see that, if they don't want to commit to anything else—and the music. We still need a speaker and a message. I don't know where we could find someone as good as Jason on short notice."

"I think you should speak," Andrea said quietly.

Celeste snorted. Will raised an eyebrow. Gina and Nathan looked at Andrea obviously trying to figure out if she was serious. Thad did deliver the announcements at the start of youth group meetings, but he wasn't exactly known for his inspirational talks. Just knowing he'd have to do the announcements had almost made him turn down the president position.

"Uh, why me?" Thad asked.

Andrea straightened up. "One, you're the youth group president, and it just makes sense, as our group's leader, to do it. Two, we know you're available." (Celeste snickered at this.) "Three, well, I think you'd do a good job. You've definitely gotten better at doing the announcements this year. And those quotations you throw in sometimes as 'God thoughts,' they really do make me think."

Thad glanced around, trying not to look desperate. "Any other suggestions?"

"I think you could do it," Nathan said hesitantly.

"If you want to," Gina added.

"You wouldn't have to talk very long," Celeste said, still skeptical. "People are going to want to get to the cookie buffet anyway."

"And we could help you figure out what you're going to say, if you want," Will said. "Like, I was thinking it was kind of ironic that Mary had an unexpected pregnancy before Christmas, too. Obviously this is really different, because it involves sin, but it made me think about how people rush to judgment, and how God always has a plan even when no one else sees it."

Thad managed a small smile. "That's just what I was reading before you came over, Matthew 1," he said. "That and Psalm 51, the one David wrote after he got caught with Bathsheba. 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love,' it starts. Even though David, and everybody else, sinned so much, God did have mercy—he sent Jesus. I usually think about sin more at Easter than Christmas, but it's all part of the same big story."

"Some crazy story," Celeste grumbled.

Thad sighed. "As long as God's writing it, I guess I can't complain too much. Even if it means I have to get up in front of people and talk about sin and Christmas. And even if it means you all have to sit and listen to me! Right, Mr. Draper?"

"I'm not worried," Mr. Draper said. "I really do believe you guys have what it takes to get through this."

"I guess I'm not worried, either," Thad responded slowly. "Still sad and confused, but not really worried." l

Read more from 'Fiction'

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