He said neither the planting of WALK nor the overall planting work of Send Network would be possible without the generous partnership of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program.
“What I’ve seen in my couple of years being a Send City missionary is just a culture of unity among the planters in our network,” Ratner said. “There is not a competitive vibe, but it’s more of a celebration vibe. We’re seeing the great work of not only our lead church planters, but also the spouses of our planters using their gifts in the church-planting journey.
“We believe in giving to what you believe in, and we believe in Send Network. We are not just talking about planting churches, but we really are planting churches. The dream is not just a theory; it is practitioner based, and it’s been a blessing to have resources to help met planter needs.
“It’s not a burden to give to the Cooperative Program, it’s actually a joy because we know that the guys at Send Network are getting the job done. This wouldn’t be possible if people didn’t give. I’m not just a recipient of Send Network funds, but I’m actually a satisfied customer.”
The multiplication legacy was also part of WALK Church from the beginning, Ratner said.
“From our very first days we had church planting in our vision and timeline,” he said. “We believe that this isn’t a new way, it’s the New Testament way. You can find in the book of Acts that the pattern of Kingdom expansion has always been churches planting new churches.”
“I want Vegas to transform and be less known for being the city of sin and be more known as the city of Him. I want the world to know that God is alive and at work in Vegas, and I believe the only way we are going to see that is through churches planting churches. WALK church alone couldn’t reach the city, but a lot of churches could.”
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One Vegas church planted by WALK is Favor City Church, pastored by Joseph Gibbons. Ratner met Gibbons in 2019 while guest preaching at Dayspring Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., where Gibbons was the student pastor.
“I could sense that Joseph had a calling on his life, and I wanted to try to call out the called so I began to talk with him and his wife about considering church planting,” Ratner said.
Gibbons went out to visit Vegas several times. He and his wife developed a burden for the lostness in the city and realized the rate of new churches was “not even close” to keeping up with the growth in Vegas.
“Pastor Vance always said that the Kingdom of God runs on the rails of relationships,” Gibbons said. “There is such as great need to get the Gospel out in Las Vegas, and we can’t do that with one single church. It takes different churches to reach different people. It’s strategic to be able to lock arms together in a unique way in the same city.”
The couple would decide to move to Vegas to do a residency through WALK and Send Network. Favor City launched in October of 2021 and has grown to more than 100 people.
And once again, the multiplication DNA was passed on to Favor City.
Over his years serving in Alabama, Gibbons developed a relationship with Jack Diven, a fellow graduate of the University of Mobile.
