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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 kickoff. 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."

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