Whether offering a heartfelt tribute to a pet named Boomer or tackling the thorniest social and religious issues of the day, editor Rudy Gray has shared his straight-to-the-point perspective with readers of The Baptist Courier, the news magazine of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, for ten years. Drawing on wide-ranging experiences as a pastor, newspaperman, counselor, outdoorsman and family man, Gray has established his unique voice in an influential line of Courier editors that goes back more than 150 years. “The Last Word,” a collection of fifty columns from his decade as editor, is a fitting reflection of that voice.