When a pastor acknowledges her own limitations, how does that inform her preaching? How can a pastor see his own weakness as an opportunity for God's power to be shown? This year Mandy Smith will invite us to explore the practical, theological, and spiritual implications of pastors embracing their full humanity, including their limitations and vulnerabilities.

Originally from Australia, Mandy Smith is lead pastor of University Christian Church, a campus and neighborhood congregation with its own fair-trade café in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a regular contributor to Christianity Today publications and the Missio Alliance Blog and the author of The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry and Making a Mess and Meeting God. She is also the creator of The Collect, a citywide trash-to-art project. Mandy and her husband Jamie, a New Testament professor at Cincinnati Christian University, live with their two kids in a little house where the teapot is always warm.