Mark Ray is the preacher at the Benton Church of Christ in Benton, Kentucky. He is married to Rhonda Ray and has been blessed with five boys: Alex, Matthew, Cole, Nathan, and Graham.
Mark was raised in Odessa, Texas where he graduated from Permian High School. He went to Freed-Hardeman University where he earned a B.A. in Bible in 1995 and a Masters Degree in 1997.
While in college, Mark was a youth minister with the Owl Hollow Church of Christ in Winchester, Tennessee during the summers and preached at the Sardis Church of Christ with Dr. Earl Edwards in Sardis, Tennessee during the school year.
When Mark graduated from college, he began work at the West Main Church of Christ in Tupelo, Mississippi as youth minister and later as preacher. From 2002 until 2012 he was the pulpit minister at Siwell Road Church of Christ in Jackson, Mississippi. Mark began his preaching work with the Benton congregation in May of 2012. Mark has had several articles published in Christian Family Magazine, the Magnolia Messenger and the Gospel Advocate. He has spoken at the Magnolia Bible College lectures, Southeast Institute of Biblical Studies Lectureship, and at the Freed-Hardeman Lectureship as well. He served as a professor at Magnolia Bible College teaching subjects such as Acts, Survey of the Old Testament, Scheme of Redemption, and Preacher and His Work. He has done short term mission work in Mexico, Honduras, Russia, and the Caribbean (Dominica, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Maartin).
Mark loves to travel (having preached in sixteen states), working on his small farm and raising honey bees, and deeply enjoys his job in ministry.