My name is Lizzy Gray, and my husband (Mait) and I have been married for 10 years. We met at Cedarville University and got married after we graduated. We then moved to California where I completed my Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Biola University, and Mait worked as a web designer. After I finished school, my husband and I knew we wanted to find a place to live that felt like a genuine community. We wanted to know our neighbors and live with people who cared deeply about their city. We also knew that we wanted to be in a place that would offer diversity of thought and backgrounds. With those goals in mind, we moved to North Hill Akron in 2021.
Shortly after moving to North Hill, we were connected to North Side Open Door Church, where we quickly found our church family. Through attending North Side, we heard more about Urban Vision. My husband and I were moved by their mission and began volunteering with the Servant Leadership Team. After volunteering for about a year, I began feeling like God might have been preparing me for a change in job, but I was unsure what the next chapter would be. Finally, one day, I asked God to make it clearer if He wanted me to make a change. A few minutes later, I saw a prayer request Mr. Rodney posted about staff openings at Urban Vision. The timing felt too perfect to ignore, so I reached out to Micah to ask about the positions, and I joined the staff team a few weeks later. I love seeing students find the passions and gifts that God has given them. Whether they want to become chefs, teachers, detectives or pediatric nurses, it is amazing to see them dream about how they will bring God’s kingdom to Earth and to walk alongside them as they develop the skills to live out those dreams.
In the Spring of 2023, we had our son Boaz and just recently welcomed our first foster child into our home. Raising our family in the North Hill Community has been such a blessing and we are so excited to watch our children grow alongside their Urban Vision Family.