Editor’s note: This part of a reporting series, “From the Flames,” that explores the aftermath of the recent L.A. County fires. In December of 2024, the Franklin Fire ignited in Malibu, burning 4,000 acres and dozens of structures. Students and faculty sheltered in place on campus while flames burned the nearby hillsides. Then, less than a month later, the Palisades Fire exploded, burning more than 23,000 acres in Malibu and the Pacific Palisades. Today, PCH remains closed, homes remain in ruins and the local businesses that are open continue to struggle. Yet, as new growth begins to sprout on the nearby hillsides, there are small signs of recovery as communities begin the long road to recovery.
With the recent Franklin and Palisades fires that deeply impacted the Malibu community, Malibu churches found ways to support those affected.
Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church, Malibu Pacific Church and Waves Church all found their community impacted after the fires. It was clear: the community needed a system of support.
“The church is supposed to be a system of support and that’s part of the beauty of church benevolence,” Taylor Walling, lead minister of Waves Church, said.
All three churches committed to different plans of action to help support their communities, and Malibu as a whole, in the aftermath of the fires.
Waves Church
Waves Church took three main steps in helping their community process the fires.
As a large portion of their community includes Pepperdine students, there were fewer people directly displaced by the fires, Walling said.
The Waves Church community found fewer people displaced, prompting them to focus on providing emotional and relational support as their first step, Walling said.
“From a church standpoint, community standpoint, it’s been communal support and encouragement and love,” Walling said.
One way they showed this communal love was through recorded versions of their sermons for people who couldn’t attend in person because of the fire, Walling said.
The Waves Church community shared two sermons during the fires. Church leaders presented these sermons in hopes of guiding the church community through the hardship caused by the fires.
The second way is through catering from local restaurants which are not seeing their usual business because of the fires, Walling said.
“More than previously we have really looked at: how can we give local support?” Walling said. “Even if that means we’re spending a little bit more on food.”
They have catered from restaurants like D’Amore’s, Spruzzo’s, Miguel’s Tacos and Howdy’s for their community dinners, Walling said.
Waves Church also actively supported the Pepperdine Strong Fund by partnering with Pepperdine’s Student Government Association to welcome the bikers from Abilene Christian University (ACU), Walling said.
The bikers were a part of the Gamma Sigma Phi ACU fraternity and biked from ACU to Pepperdine University to help raise money in part for the Pepperdine Strong Fund, according to previous Graphic reporting.
“We were dessert sponsors at that event as a way to highlight and celebrate the fundraising they had done,” Walling said.
However, what Walling said he finds most impressive is not the ways the church has stepped up, but the individual members of the community who have helped donate to those in need.
“I never want to diminish or take for granted the individual acts of compassion and generosity that in my mind are just as important, even if they’re not as large scale, as institutional or congregational acts of generosity,” Walling said.
Malibu Pacific Church
Malibu Pacific Church’s inability to remain open during the recent fires prompted their threefold plan in helping the Malibu community recover, Amy Pendergraft, pastor of discipleship at Malibu Pacific Church, said.
“With Malibu Canyon [Road] being closed for so long, we weren’t able to be a location of relief for people,” Pendergraft said. “So what we did was we partnered with the Boys and Girls Club.”
Through this partnership, Malibu Pacific Church helped sort through and distribute donations to those who lost property during the fires, Pendergraft said.
The church also donated around $3,000 to each family within their church community who lost their homes, Pendergraft said.
“We have tried to continually reach out to them to see if they’re doing OK,” Pendergraft said.
Similar to Waves Church, Malibu Pacific Church is also trying to support local, struggling restaurants during this time.
They are helping these businesses through the creation of the go local movement, which encourages people to eat local in exchange for gift card and merchandise prizes, Pendergraft said.
They created a blackout bingo card on their Instagram page and are encouraging those who are able to, to fill out the card completely as a way to support those struggling businesses, Pendergraft said.
“We know that these restaurants are barely hanging on by a thread and they may not be able to stay in business,” Pendergraft said. “And for all of us, we want those restaurants to still be here.”
Our Lady of Malibu
Our Lady of Malibu (OLM) is taking a slightly different approach to helping their community.
Pope Francis declared 2025 as a holy year of hope, however with the fires in the Malibu community, OLM was unable to transition into this new year with the rest of the universal church, Monsignor of OLM Charles Chaffman said.
OLM will be sponsoring a local holy year of hope starting around the Easter season to support the community during these unprecedented circumstances, Chaffman said.
“We’re gonna have a whole year of hope in which we are going to minister, hopefully, to all of Pacific Palisades, Calabasas and Malibu,” Chaffman said.
They plan to host events such as a children’s Easter egg hunt and “The Plaza del Soul Market Place,” where the community can gather to enjoy vendors and fellowship, Chaffman said.
OLM also plans on hosting a theater of hope in Malibu resident Betty O’Meara’s honor, Chaffman said.
O’Meara formerly owned a Malibu movie theater that was shut down in 2017, according to a Malibu Times article. She recently died in the Palisades Fire.
All these churches said they are grateful for the opportunity to serve their community.
“It’s a unique opportunity to help our community know that there is a God who sees them and knows them,” Pendergraft said.
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Contact Mackenzie Krause via email: mackenzie.krause@pepperdine.edu
