The Heart of Laguna copertina

The Heart of Laguna

The Heart of Laguna

Di: William Crist
Ascolta gratuitamente

3 mesi a soli 0,99 €/mese

Dopo 3 mesi, 9,99 €/mese. Si applicano termini e condizioni.

A proposito di questo titolo

 The Heart of Laguna is a weekly series of candid, human conversations with Fr. Will Crist and faith leaders from across Laguna Beach—followed by dialogues with civic, nonprofit, and philanthropic voices shaping our community. This is not a show about debating doctrine or defending ideologies. It is about listening deeply, honoring real stories, and naming the values that knit us together as neighbors, citizens, and human beings.

We live in a world that feels increasingly fractured—by politics, religion, and socioeconomic division. This podcast exists to push back against that fragmentation by creating space for trust, belonging, and mutual respect to grow again. Each episode explores questions that matter:
  • What does it mean to be a community today?
  • What gets in the way?
  • And how, across our differences, can we begin to rebuild trust and heal—right here in Laguna Beach?
The Heart of Laguna is more than a conversation—it is an act of civic and spiritual courage. These dialogues don’t stop at shared beliefs; they move toward shared action, identifying practical ways faith communities, nonprofits, public institutions, and individuals can work together for the common good.

Originally broadcast on KXFM radio, each episode now lives on as a podcast—so you can listen in your own time, at your own pace. At its core, this show exists to remind us of a simple truth:
Beneath our labels and roles, we are all human beings longing to belong, called to love, and capable of making our community more kind, just, and connected.William Crist Spiritualità
Episodi
  • Pearl Street to Purpose: Pastor Jay Grant on Laguna’s Heart, Hope, and Love That Holds -- Fr. Will Crist and Jay Grant, December 31, 2025

    Pearl Street to Purpose: Pastor Jay Grant on Laguna’s Heart, Hope, and Love That Holds -- Fr. Will Crist and Jay Grant, December 31, 2025
    Dec 31 2025
    Episode DescriptionWhat makes Laguna Beach more than a postcard? In this episode of The Heart of Laguna, Fr. Will Crist sits down with Pastor Jay Grant, a 55-year Laguna Beach resident and a pastor at Networks Community Church. Jay takes us back to the early days—renting an ocean-view place on Pearl Street for $60 a month, the rise of the Sawdust Festival out of the counterculture, and the way Laguna’s creative soul became a magnet for people from all over the world. But this isn’t just nostalgia. Jay speaks candidly about the difference between believing in God and knowing God personally, why he insists that love is a choice, and how Laguna’s character showed itself in moments like the 1993 firestorm. Together, we explore what has changed in the last 10–15 years, the challenge of affordability, the role local churches play in caring for “street friends,” and why Jay still calls Laguna “a city of hope.” If you care about community, resilience, spirituality that actually works on a Tuesday, and the kind of leadership that begins with simple faithfulness—this conversation will land.Show Notes A Laguna beginning: Pearl Street and the old days Jay starts with a story that instantly puts you in another era: moving into the old Harper House on Pearl Street—$60 a month, ocean view, single-wall construction, and using calendars on the wall to cut the wind. It’s funny, specific, and deeply Laguna. The “two-lane” life: work in town, ministry in town Jay shares a core conviction: the best ministry often comes from people who serve God in and work in the community. He describes decades of life that braided together church leadership, the Sawdust Festival, family life, and coaching kids—an everyday, embodied spirituality. The Sawdust Festival origin story: counterculture, craftsmanship, and a “happening.” Jay gives a vivid history lesson on the Sawdust: artists juried out of the Festival of Arts, precursor shows, the move to the Funk property, buying the land, and the “unthinkable” moment—charging admission. He paints the early years as electric: late-night hours, huge crowds, and a cultural mix that made the Sawdust feel like an open-air experiment in freedom, art, and searching. Faith that’s personal, not just inherited Jay tells his own spiritual arc—from being raised in a faith tradition to exploring Eastern spirituality to the moment when faith became relationship. He describes it like walking into a dark room, and suddenly the lights come on: “I believed in God… then I met God.” “Love is a choice”: marriage, faith, and staying power One of the strongest segments is Jay’s insistence that love—human or divine—is not built on feeling. Feelings fluctuate. Commitment endures. He connects this to marriage and to the life of faith: choosing love when the “warm glow” isn’t there. A portrait of Laguna: beauty, people, and the everyday saints Jay’s love letter to Laguna is concrete: not just beaches and canyons, but the people and places that make a town feel like home—shops, neighbors, Friday night football with Catalina in the distance, shared rituals, and the small interactions that create belonging. The 1993 firestorm: where Laguna’s heart showed itself Jay speaks personally about losing his home in the 1993 fire and what happened next: strangers handing him money, people showing up with supplies, leaders “adopting” streets, and the community rallying. It’s a reminder that resilience is not abstract—it’s relational. What’s changed: affordability and the loss of “regular life.” Jay doesn’t romanticize the present. He names the big shift: affordability. What used to be possible with a normal job now feels out of reach for the next generation. He frames it as a community adjustment—real, ongoing, and defining. Networks Community Church: worship, breakfast, and “street friends.” Jay describes Networks as a low-key church with a strong emphasis on worship, scripture, and practical care—especially welcoming “street friends” for breakfast, providing clothing and toiletries, and partnering across churches to support people in need. The tone is simple: “We want people to know there’s a place they can go.” A different kind of “icon.” Fr. Will offers a striking reframing: icon not as celebrity, but as someone through whom a glimpse of the holy becomes visible—humility, nonjudgmental presence, kindness, and the quiet power of being a gift to others. He identifies Pastor Grant as an icon in Laguna.Failure, grace, and the hope that doesn’t collapse Jay leans into a theme that lands hard for a lot of people: Scripture is full of failures, and that’s not an embarrassment—it’s the point. “God is a God of failures,” he says, meaning: God meets people honestly, in the mess, and doesn’t wait for perfection. “One day at a time” Jay closes with a steady, 83-year-old wisdom: he stays grounded...
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    43 min
  • Belonging, Civic Responsibility, and the Kind of Leadership that Starts Small -- Fr. Will Crist and Slade Carlton, December 24, 2025

    Belonging, Civic Responsibility, and the Kind of Leadership that Starts Small -- Fr. Will Crist and Slade Carlton, December 24, 2025
    Dec 27 2025
    Laguna Beach is famous for beauty—but the real story is how a small town holds together when things don’t “work on paper.”

    In this episode of The Heart of Laguna, Fr. Will Crist sits down with Slade Carlton, Outreach Volunteer at Laguna Beach United Methodist Church, a local builder-turned-community leader who has devoted himself to serving neighbors on the margins and strengthening civic life.

    Slade shares how a simple “blessing bag” idea became a four-year movement of relationship-based outreach—109 Saturday beach cleanups and counting—built in partnership with local churches, Friendship Shelter, and the Laguna Beach Police Department. Together, they explore what makes Laguna’s interfaith spirit so unusual, why affordable housing is now a defining challenge, and how the ASL (Alternative Sleeping Location) reflects the values we refuse to let go of: dignity, compassion, and practical care.

    This isn’t a debate about politics. It’s a conversation about belonging, civic responsibility, and the kind of leadership that starts small—one relationship, one project, one neighbor at a time.

    Show notes

    Guest: Slade Carlton — Outreach Volunteer, Laguna Beach United Methodist Church
    Host: Fr. Will Crist — St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Laguna Beach


    In this episode
    • Slade’s path: builder/entrepreneur → community outreach leader after selling his company
    • The “blessing bag” project revealed how personal homelessness is for many families
    • Why relationship-based outreach matters: learning names, building trust, creating community
    • How Laguna’s Saturday Main Beach cleanups began—and why they’ve continued for four years (109 events)
    • Laguna’s unique “weird and wonderful” tradition: embracing people on the margins (Joe Lucas, Eiler Larson, and more)
    • Why Laguna “doesn’t work on paper”—and how churches help bridge divides
    • Housing & Human Services: what Slade is learning about preserving affordability and community life
    • The ASL (Alternative Sleeping Location): what it provides, why it matters, and what’s changing
    • Why affordability is the long-term issue: “not enough homes,” “not enough affordable homes,” and what it means for teachers, police, workers, and artists
    • ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units): promise vs. reality in Laguna
    • A leadership challenge: how to welcome new residents into Laguna’s civic story—not just its amenities
    • Signs of hope: the Cold Weather Shelter, interfaith collaboration, and younger leaders shaping the future
    Memorable lines
    • “Laguna Beach doesn’t work on paper… but somehow we make it work.”
    • “It’s what you do, not what you say.”
    Get involved
    • Interested in volunteering or learning more about outreach at Laguna Beach United Methodist Church? Visit their website or stop by on a Sunday—ask about outreach opportunities, beach cleanups, and service partnerships.


    About the Show
    The Heart of Laguna is a weekly conversation from KXFM in Laguna Beach. Each episode explores what holds us together when the world feels like it’s coming apart—through stories, spirit, and service from the soul of the city.🎙 New episodes every Wednesday morning on KXFM at 8:00.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    42 min
  • I Want to Do Something About That — Global Outreach from the Heart of Laguna -- Fr. Will Crist and Barbara Van Gaasbeek, December 17, 2025

    I Want to Do Something About That — Global Outreach from the Heart of Laguna -- Fr. Will Crist and Barbara Van Gaasbeek, December 17, 2025
    Dec 26 2025
    Description

    From Siberia to Sudan: how one lay leader turns compassion into action—and invites Laguna to go bigger. What happens when a lifelong “can-do” spirit meets real human need?

    This week on The Heart of Laguna, Father Will Crist welcomes Barbara Van Gaasbeek, Chair of Outreach at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Beach. Barbara’s story is a masterclass in compassionate leadership—starting with her years leading national sustainability and green building programs at Honda, and continuing into “retirement,” where she’s helped mobilize St. Mary’s for bold, practical service locally and around the world.

    From sending humanitarian aid to radiation-impacted communities in Siberia, to funding a deep-sea fishing boat after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to supporting clean water, shoes, and mobility solutions—Barbara keeps coming back to one phrase: “I’m going to do something about that.”

    The conversation also turns to Laguna Beach’s unique potential: the creativity, expertise, and resources already here—and the possibility of bringing together the wider community (faith-based or not) for big, “outrageous” projects that restore purpose and save lives.

    Featured current focus: Sudan and South Sudan, where famine is devastating communities. Barbara shares St. Mary’s effort to fund Plumpy’Nut, a life-saving therapeutic food that can restore a starving child in about two weeks.

    If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the world’s problems, this episode offers a different path: move from “ain’t it awful” to “let’s do it.”


    Show notes


    Guest: Barbara Van Gaasbeek — Chair of Outreach, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (Laguna Beach); former Honda national administrator for green building programs.
    In this episode:
    • Barbara’s path from corporate sustainability leadership to community outreach
    • Responding to a crisis in Siberia/Chelyabinsk with humanitarian aid (three 40-foot containers)
    • Post-tsunami rebuilding: funding a deep-sea fishing boat to restore livelihoods
    • Practical innovations that save lives: LifeStraw, The Shoe That Grows, and more
    • Local service in Laguna Beach: pantry support, Thanksgiving produce in-gathering, community partnerships
    • The big question: why logistics fail the poor while commerce moves luxury with ease
    • A challenge to Laguna: gather leaders and creatives for larger “city-sized” projects
    • Current urgent focus: Sudan & South Sudan famine relief
      • St. Mary’s goal: $4,000 to save 80 lives
      • Funding Plumpy’Nut through trusted relief partners
    Get involved: To support St. Mary’s Sudan/South Sudan relief effort, contact Ryan Martin, Parish Administrator at St. Mary’s: (949) 494-3542 (Mon–Fri, 9am–3pm).

    About the Show
    The Heart of Laguna is a weekly conversation from KXFM in Laguna Beach. Each episode explores what holds us together when the world feels like it’s coming apart—through stories, spirit, and service from the soul of the city.🎙 New episodes every Wednesday morning on KXFM at 8:00.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    47 min
Ancora nessuna recensione