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In January of 2012, the Gray family felt led<br />
to adopt again. Chris remembers thinking,<br />
“There is no way we’ll have another experience<br />
like we did with Hannah Claire’s adoption.”<br />
The couple had started the process and paid<br />
$27,000 toward the adoption. They were<br />
devastated to learn that Vladamir Putin had<br />
banned Americans from adopting Russian<br />
children. The money put toward the adoption<br />
was lost. The couple chose to start the adoption<br />
process again, this time in Moldova. Six<br />
months into that process, Moldova’s adoption<br />
process came to a standstill as well. The couple<br />
lost their money again.<br />
They eventually started the work to adopt<br />
from Poland. In January of 2014, Chris<br />
attended a Wednesday night church service at<br />
Pinelake. He had turned in a prayer request<br />
card that read, “God, if you want us to continue<br />
this adoption process, you’ll have to provide<br />
for it because we have lost so much.” Chris<br />
watched as Chip Henderson, the senior pastor<br />
at Pinelake, stepped onto the stage and held<br />
Chris’s prayer request and announced the<br />
prayer need to the congregation.<br />
Eight months later, Chris felt led to fill out<br />
the paperwork for an adoption grant. The<br />
grant was for $5,000 to help cover the cost of<br />
an adoption. But time slowly passed and both<br />
Chris and Andrea assumed they had not been<br />
selected for the grant.<br />
In November of 2014, Chris visited Target<br />
on his lunch break. He decided to check his<br />
email while he was there. He was surprised to<br />
see an email reading, “Congratulations Gray<br />
Family.” They had been awarded a $20,000<br />
grant. Chris shared that it touched his heart<br />
that God showed how much he loves and cares<br />
for orphans through providing a Bible for<br />
Hannah Claire and the money for Ava’s<br />
adoption.<br />
In 2015, Chris was attending another<br />
Wednesday night service at Pinelake. The<br />
sermon was on Jonah. Chip said, “If you’ve<br />
been running from something God has asked<br />
of you, stand and we will pray over you.” Chris<br />
stood, knowing he had been asked to encourage<br />
others who are in the process of adoption.<br />
He has now spoken about adoption and<br />
foster care at over 90 churches in Mississippi.<br />
He also teaches a class to families considering<br />
adoption or fostering at Crossgates Baptist<br />
Church on the first and third Wednesday of<br />
each month. He started the Zacchaeus Tree<br />
Adoption Ministry, which offers adoption<br />
grants to Mississippi families. Families can<br />
raise up to $2,500 toward an adoption, and<br />
the ministry will match it through Lifesong<br />
for Orphans. So far, the ministry has helped<br />
ten families fund their adoptions.<br />
Chris was recently recognized for his work<br />
in helping families who are on the journey<br />
toward adoption and fostering. In September,<br />
the Gray family traveled to Washington D.C.<br />
to receive this recognition. He said of the<br />
event: “It was an honor to be selected by U.S.<br />
54 • NOVEMBER 2022
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