Servant authority and servant leadership was a strong theme of Ray's lifestyle, ministry, and service to the Lord, and to people. Ray's study of the Gospel of Mark shows clearly how Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. In so doing, the Lord turned upside down the authority structures of the world. And, "Jesus came with the good news that all the power of God is now available to break the helpless deadlock into which man has fallen. Scripture tells us that man in his natural condition is helpless. No matter how much we like to think we are able to do something to correct our condition, we would be absolutely helpless and hopeless without the aid of God. In fact, human life would be impossible. Without God's mercy, without his restraining hand on forces that affect us, we could not even sit in the same room together---we would be at one another's throats, gouging out each other's eyes, hateful, and hating one another---animals, destroying ourselves."