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...
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43 min