Heiden Ratner is the Lead Pastor of WALK Church, a church plant in Las Vegas, NV. Heiden and Neena Ratner were married in 2011 while Heiden was playing professional basketball in Israel. Heiden and Neena are both Las Vegas natives and God has birthed a strong passion on their hearts to see Las Vegas changed by the power of the gospel. Heiden is currently working toward his Master of Arts in Church Planting at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Online, while Neena is finishing her Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education at Liberty University Online. God has placed a calling on their lives to plant WALK Church in Las Vegas, NV and they couldn’t be more excited about all that God is doing in their city.
A Word from Pastor Heiden
When I first felt called to church planting, I knew it was something much bigger than just gathering a group of people, meeting in a building, singing songs of worship, and preaching a sermon. I knew all those things were good and had their place within the church, however, I felt God putting a much bigger dream than that on my heart. His dream for WALK Church was not just to have a Sunday worship gathering, rather to be a community transforming church that takes place everyday of the week. Everyday will be an opportunity to walk in Jesus, free people to walk in Jesus, redeem the city with the gospel of Jesus, and impact the world for the glory of Jesus.
Along with my passion for the gospel and call to church planting has always been a deep love for sports, specifically the game of basketball. Since becoming a believer in Christ, I’ve had the unique vision of combining athletics with the church and transforming the city of Las Vegas by engaging the sports domain with the gospel. My dream for WALK Church in Las Vegas is to build a full size, quality basketball gym that can be operated as community center, athletic training facility, discipleship launching pad, and worship center. The athletic culture in Las Vegas has such a powerful influence that if the athletes in this city were empowered by the gospel and set free to walk in Jesus, this city could be changed in a real way. We want to use sports as one of the many domains WALK Church represents to invest in our community and redeem the city back to its original purpose as the city of Him.
Prestonwood Network: Heiden Ratner from The Prestonwood Network on Vimeo.
Our Mission Is To Free People To Walk In Jesus
We believe that Jesus has placed a primary calling on all of our lives and that is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). At WALK Church we define a biblical disciple as someone who has received the Lord Jesus Christ, and is set free to walk in Him (Colossians 2:6). The heart beat of our church is to join Christ in His mission of making disciples of all nations by freeing people to walk in Him. As we walk in Christ, we believe that He will be the one freeing people through His church!
Our Vision Is To Redeem The City & Impact The World
While making disciples is central to whom we are, we also believe that Jesus has given us a message to proclaim to the world and that is the message of reconciliation through the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-19). As the gospel is proclaimed both in our lives and words, we believe that reconciliation will spring forth in our community, resulting in the city being redeemed and the world being impacted in a real way.
Our Strategy: AIM
ABIDE: Walk In Jesus
Before we ever walk in Him, we first must abide in Him. The abiding relationship with Jesus is what drives our daily walk. In John 15:1-11, Jesus uses the imagery of a branch abiding in a vine to illustrate the life of a Christian. At WALK Church, we define this word abide as: Walking in fellowship with Jesus every moment of every day. Practically this looks like spending relational time with Jesus in His Word, personal time with Jesus in prayer, and walking in joyful obedience to His teachings. As we abide in Christ, He then begins to walk His life out through us, and the result will be nothing less than spiritual fruit that looks, tastes, and feels like Jesus!
INVEST: Walk In Community
We believe that a biblical church is a church invested in community. Jesus defined this model for us individually and corporately by the way he invested His life in His disciples, the crowds around Him, and the cities He visited. Today, He invests His life into others through His body, the church. At WALK Church, our desire is to invest our lives in community in two primary ways: Investing in the family of God and investing in the city. Community for us looks like one-on-one discipleship, small (Charge) groups, weekly corporate worship services, and intentionally building relationships with people who don’t know Jesus in our city!
MOBILIZE: Walk On Mission
God’s vision for WALK Church is much bigger than one church in a city. David wrote in the Psalms, “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him” (Psalm 67:7 NASB). God is a global God and He is passionate about seeing the nations come to know Him. For this reason, success at WALK Church will be defined less by the number of people in seats on Sunday and more by the number of disciples being mobilized to expand God’s Kingdom. It is our desire to see disciples trained, equipped, and then sent out to live lives on mission, ready to impact the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you are interested in partnering with WALK Church or planting in Las Vegas, NV, contact Heiden Ratner at Heiden@walkchurch.com or visit www.walkchurch.com. Follow Haiden on Twitter at @HeidenRatner and on Facebook at facebook.com/heiden.ratner.