Ray is an experienced educator, pastor, and denominational leader with over 20 years of ministry across Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. He currently serves as the pastor of Pillar Church in Columbus, Ohio, and as a professor at the University of the Cumberlands and Emmaus Theological Seminary.

Ray earned both his MDiv and PhD from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His doctoral research included the first published discourse analysis of the Sermon on the Mount, and his teaching specializes in New Testament studies, emphasizing the application of discourse analysis to New Testament literature.

His research interests include New Testament studies, discourse analysis, homiletics, Koine Greek, and computational linguistics. Ray is actively collaborating in the field of computer science to explore the use of large language models (LLMs) and AI in biblical studies. He regularly publishes his research and presents at academic conferences.

Outside of academia, Ray has been married to Katrina for 19 years and together they have a daughter, Zelda. In his free time, Ray loves traveling with his family, watching the latest Star Wars content, playing bluegrass music, and supporting the Tennessee Volunteers.