One of the students in Pastor Nyder's youth group, Fernald Jeremy Smithers ("Fernie" to his friends) is a sweet and optimistic teenage missionary unaware of his pastor's hypocritical devilry. He hopes to one day become an ordained minister. His faith means a lot to him and he feels very close to God, no matter what happens to him. He was raised by evangelical Christian parents, but is a very loving and gentle soul who comes to reject his fundamentalist pastor's fire-and-brimstone "God hates fags" rhetoric and generally just loves everyone. He is secretly bisexual, something he struggles to come to terms with considering Nyder's feelings about gay people. He eventually decides he can be bi and also be a Christian, regardless of what Pastor Nyder insists, and his parents are very supportive of him.