Do you know who Ken Calvert is? Tim Thompson didn’t. Thompson, the lead pastor of 412 Church Temecula Valley, once struggled to ask meaningful questions of Calvert, the Inland Empire’s longest-serving congressmember. That’s no longer the case. Today, Thompson’s political connections reach th e highest levels of the MAGA movement. Donald Trump Jr. praised Thompson by name, while Thompson’s “Our Watch With Tim Thompson” Instagram account shows photos of the pastor with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Fox News personality-turned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Tim Thompson, lead pastor of 412 Church Temecula Valley, delivers a sermon to his congregation Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in Temecula. The church moved to a new building late last year and offers several Sunday services to keep up with the demand. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) 412 Church Temecula Valley Lead Pastor Tim Thompson, seen addressing his congregation Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in Temecula, doesn’t mind the term Christian nationalism, arguing that Christians have a right and obligation to see their values reflected in government. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) 412 Church Temecula Valley Lead Pastor Tim Thompson prays during a Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, service in Temecula. Thompson founded the Inland Empire Family Political Action Committee, which has helped elect Christian conservatives to several Inland Empire school boards. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Lead Pastor Tim Thompson gives a sermon at his 412 Church Temecula Valley on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in Temecula. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) 412 Church Temecula Valley Lead Pastor Tim Thompson, right, places his hand on Derek Kinnison, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for convictions stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, during a Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, service in Temecula. (File photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Worshippers at 412 Church Temecula Valley stand as Derek Kinnison and his family take the stage during a Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, service in Temecula. Kinnison, a church member, received a pardon from President Donald Trump after being convicted of non-violent offenses stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. (File photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Lead Pastor Tim Thompson of 412 Church Temecula Valley in Temecula plays a recorded clip of Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde during a Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, sermon. Thompson criticized Budde, who urged President Donald Trump to show mercy to immigrants and vulnerable people during a service at the Washington National Cathedral. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Spectators at the Temecula Valley Unified School District board meeting react to 412 Church Temecula Valley Lead Pastor Tim Thompson after he called school district trustee Steven Schwartz a communist during a July 2023 meeting. Thompson frequently appears at school board meetings to object to policies and people he sees as threatening children and parents’ rights. These include policies intended to protect and affirm LGBTQ+ students. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) 412 Church Temecula Valley Lead Pastor Tim Thompson speaks to volunteers in 2022 before they knock on doors and hand out flyers in support of school board candidates endorsed by Thompson’s Inland Empire Family Political Action Committee. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Lead Pastor Tim Thompson prays as he speaks to his congregation at 412 Church Temecula Valley on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. In recent years, Thompson has led a successful movement to elect Christian conservatives to local school boards and established connections with the highest ranks of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 10Tim Thompson, lead pastor of 412 Church Temecula Valley, delivers a sermon to his congregation Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in Temecula. The church moved to a new building late last year and offers several Sunday services to keep up with the demand. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Expand Locally, Thompson’s Inland Empire Family Political Action Committee helped elect Christian conservatives to several Inland Empire school boards. Eric Trump headlined a PAC fundraiser in Temecula, and the pastor’s political allies include Riverside County’s sheriff and district attorney. Thompson’s bare head and chiseled physique are a common sight at school board meeting podiums, where he condemns what he believes are people and efforts — often tied to sex education, adult-themed books or support of the LGBTQ+ community — threatening children’s innocence and parents’ rights. On Sundays, he preaches from a cross-emblazoned pulpit in Temecula, where he exhorts like-minded Christians to be politically involved. Thompson’s defenders see a compassionate man of God fighting for Christian values in government and holding a public school system he’s described as “Satan’s playground” accountable. “He’s a pastor and his role is to spread the Gospel to the lost, meaning Jesus Christ as savior. That’s it,” said Temecula school board member Joseph Komrosky, who credits the pastor with inspiring him to run for office. “On top of that, you get some pastors that don’t believe in talking about politics or social issues at the pulpit,” added Komrosky, who is not a member of 412 Church. “He does because he wants to protect people and our community’s traditional family values.” Thompson’s critics see a hateful bully pursuing an oppressive brand of fundamentalism at the expense of LGBTQ+ people. “It’s not based on love thy neighbor,” Temecula progressive activist Julie Geary said. “It’s basically ‘Hate thy neighbor and tear everything down and burn it to the ground,’ rather than finding positive solutions to improve the community.” Thompson declined to comment. In Thompson’s rhetoric, critics hear echoes of Christian nationalism, the idea that conservative Christian beliefs should have a prominent, if not dominant, role in American government. The label doesn’t faze Thompson, who has said his ministry reaches people in more than 160 countries. “Aren’t we, in a constitutional republic where we get to have a say of what kind of community we live (in) … supposed to desire that our Christian beliefs are reflected in the policies in the area in which we live?” he said in a February Instagram video. “So call it Christian nationalism. Call it whatever you want. God has given me and you … a mandate to go out into the world and teach people to obey the things that (God has) commanded.” Growing church needs four Sunday services Married for 29 years, Thompson, a father and grandfather, “began cultivating his church” in 2012, the nonprofit news outlet Capital & Main reported last year. Once called Venia, it met in rented spaces, including a bar, in the Temecula Valley, according to Capital & Main. 412 Church’s motto — “Win. Disciple. Send.” — is about developing converts to Christianity to spread God’s message. The church’s online “Statement of Faith” includes declarations that there are just two genders, marriage is solely between a man and woman and homosexuality and bisexuality are among “sexual activities” that are “inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible and the Church.” “Further, lascivious behavior, the creation, viewing and/or distribution of pornography and efforts to alter ones (sic) gender are incompatible with a true Biblical witness,” the statement read. 412 Church moved to a new Temecula building late last year. There were no parking spots to be had for a Jan. 26 service, one of four held on Sundays. Inside, a band performed contemporary Christian songs as church-goers stood and sang along with their hands in the air. Later, Thompson delivered a sermon that recounted his trip to the Washington National Cathedral, during which Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, with President Donald Trump in attendance, urged the president to have mercy on LGBTQ+ people and undocumented immigrants. “Did you ever leave church pissed?” Thompson asked before chastising Budde, whom he said needed prayers because her teachings would lead her congregation to hell. That service served as a homecoming for Derek Kinnison, a church member pardoned by Trump after being convicted of non-violent offenses stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. Kinnison, a former member of the Three Percenters anti-government militia, got a hug from Thompson and applause and cheers from the congregation. A social media photo of Thompson showed him wearing what critics say is the Three Percenters’ insignia. He has denied being a member and has said he wore the patch because he considers himself among the 3% of pastors in the country “who actually has the courage to preach the Gospel.” COVID served as a wake-up call In his 2021 book, “Awake: America’s Final Great Awakening,” Thompson describes a Washington, D.C. meeting “several years ago” with Calvert, the Republican congressmember from Corona, as part of a trip he was asked to go on. The cover of “Awake: America’s Final Great Awakening” by Pastor Tim Thompson. (Photo courtesy of Amazon) “To be honest, I had no clue who he was,” Thompson wrote. “I walked into his office, sat down in a chair across the desk from him, and he asked me ‘What questions do you have for me?’ I wanted to say ‘I don’t know. I don’t even know who you are!’”  Angry about restrictions on in-person worship services intended to halt COVID-19’s spread, the pastor went to a May 2020 protest in Sacramento. Thompson wrote that he was arrested on charges of obstructing or interfering with the use of state property and violating California’s health code. “If I wasn’t awake before, I was then!” he wrote. Inland Empire Family PAC incorporated in 2021 and listed Thompson as a principal officer. The PAC raises money, knocks on voters’ doors, makes phone calls and donates to candidates it vets and endorses. Five of the PAC’s seven endorsed candidates won in 2022, including Komrosky, Jen Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez in Temecula, who pursued an agenda on the school board that included banning the teaching of critical race theory and requiring district staff to tell parents if their child identifies as transgender. The latter policy has since been rescinded. In 2024, the PAC endorsed six candidates. Three won, including two now on the Redlands school board. Prominent conservatives interviewed on ‘Our Watch’ Since 2022, the PAC has raised more than $350,000 with the help of the Make America Great Again movement’s top personalities. Trump attorney Alina Habba and FBI Director Kash Patel joined Eric Trump at the PAC’s May 2024 fundraiser, with Thompson interviewing Habba, Eric Trump and Patel in broadcasts shared on social media. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health and human services secretary criticized for spreading misinformation about vaccines, was an “Our Watch” guest in 2020. An “Our Watch” Instagram video posted just before the November election shows Donald Trump Jr. praising Thompson for the pastor’s work to win school board seats. “I would almost give up everything if we could control the school boards,” Trump Jr. said while facing Thompson at what appears to be a banquet. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, visited 412 Church in 2021 after an impromptu Riverside City Hall rally with fellow conservative firebrand Matt Gaetz. “Our Watch With Tim Thompson” is a registered, tax-exempt nonprofit organization that had $390,000 in revenue in 2023. Thompson, who is listed as Our Watch’s president, did not draw a salary from the organization that year, records show. According to its nonprofit filing, Our Watch “operates to preserve and promote Christian values by educating and empowering communities toward a more Christian influence based on Biblical principles on local, state, national and international social issues.” Past “Our Watch” guests include former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, known for pushing conspiracy theories and a Christian nationalist agenda, and Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative activist behind the movie “2,000 Mules,” which falsely claimed that fraud cost Trump the 2020 election. Thompson visited Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida for a conference hosted by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit group advocating for conservative politics on school campuses, The Daily Beast reported. Thompson also is well connected with local Republicans. Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, a Republican and “Our Watch” guest, spoke at the Eric Trump fundraiser. The pastor also attended the February kick-off for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign and placed his hand on the sheriff during a group prayer. Thompson also interviewed Bianco on “Our Watch.” As a boy, saying ‘Oh my God’ led to punishment In his book, Thompson, who describes himself as a “preacher/teacher” of eschatology — theology focused on the end of the world — wrote that, when he was 6, his father died in a car wreck. When he was 9, his mother “married an extremely godly man.” While the church “was sleeping, many in it became proud blasphemers,” Thompson wrote. “When I was a kid, the phrase ‘Oh my God’ had started to become very commonplace in the English language, and uttering it in my parents’ home resulted in immediate corporal punishment in the form of Tabasco sauce being poured onto my tongue.” The pastor also takes issue with Renaissance paintings of Jesus. “He’s got a halo around His head and often, He’s hovering three feet above the ground. He has milky-white skin and hangs daintily on the cross in an effeminate manner,” Thompson wrote. “That’s not Jesus! Jesus was a man’s man.” Many Christians, Thompson wrote, “adhere to this philosophy that the world tells us not to judge. The problem is that way of thinking is not biblical.” Thompson also has harsh words for COVID prevention measures widely endorsed by the mainstream medical community. He wrote that God woke him up at 3 a.m. on Father’s Day 2020 and told him: “The masks are demonic.” He also links hand washing and social distancing to occult rituals. “Now, when I see people masked up, I see Satan all over it, which is why I decided I just wouldn’t wear one,” Thompson wrote. Last year, Thompson used footage of rapper Doja Cat performing her song “Demons” at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in urging people not to attend. “My soul breaks to know that there are people who say they’re Christians and they’re going to Coachella and they’re exposing their soul to these types of things,” Thompson said in an Instagram video. What about tax laws? In May 2024, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed an Internal Revenue Service complaint against Thompson, alleging his activism broke laws exempting churches from paying taxes if they stayed out of politics. Federal tax law bars churches from endorsing political candidates or engaging in “substantial” lobbying, but “substantial is a murky concept,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a professor and expert in nonprofit tax law at the University of Notre Dame. “It has to be significant compared to everything else that they do,” Mayer said. “I’m not aware of any legitimate church that’s gotten into trouble with the IRS at any time, frankly, for too much lobbying.” The Inland Empire Family PAC “does give them cover,” Mayer said. “The IRS has made it clear that the prohibition on political campaign intervention is for the church, not for the leaders of the church,” he said. “So if the leaders of the church engage in political activity, whether as individuals or as part of another group that’s allowed to engage in the political activity, they’re fine.” Thompson doesn’t seem worried about the IRS and agreed with Jack Hibbs, the conservative pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills on the topic, according to The Daily Beast. “I say it all the time, and I’ve heard Jack Hibbs say it as well,” The Daily Beast quoted Thompson as saying. “We look into the camera, we say, ‘Hey, we know you’re listening, IRS, come and take it,’ and they never do.” Does Thompson stand for love or hate? Supporters, foes disagree  Thompson’s critics include Murrieta’s Jenn Reeves, who was raised as a United Methodist and said she was taught to believe “you do for those that are lesser than you.” “You don’t knock people down all the time,” said Reeves, who has spoken against Christian nationalism at public meetings. “And it just feels like everything he does is to force people into believing what he believes out of fear.” Reeves added: “There is never a time when I’ve ever felt God’s love when he’s speaking. It’s always that ‘These people are evil and they’re the dregs of society,’ and it’s like these people are just living their lives. He’s not talking about rapists and murderers. He’s talking about somebody who’s gay.” Reeves also is concerned with Thompson’s MAGA connections. “I really don’t think any pastor … should have that kind of influence politically in the government,” she said. Geary, the Temecula progressive activist, said Thompson’s rhetoric has “created radical people in the community that will scream at children at school board meetings (and) will bring this brash style of religion and politics that’s interwoven into every council (and) every board” in southwest Riverside County. “You can be a hateful person … That’s your right,” she said. “But you cannot pass policies that discriminate against others. Your religion cannot be a guide to pass policy that discriminates.” Komrosky, the Temecula school board member, said some progressives “are scared because they think their kids are going to get attacked, like they might have a trans kid.” Related links Why conservative Christians want to take over southwest Riverside County school boards Eric Trump blasts Democrats, promises his dad will win election during Temecula speech Donald Trump’s FBI pick Kash Patel visited Temecula in May. Here’s what he said These PACs are trying to beat Inland Rep. Ken Calvert Temecula leaders turning right as critics try to slam the brakes “It couldn’t be farther from the truth,” he said, adding he and Thompson are “driven by love, not hate.” Thompson is “not a politician,” Komrosky said. “He just does not want kids and parents having their rights stripped away, and kids’ innocence being taken away from them. That’s it,” he said. “That’s the hill he’s willing to die on — same with me.” In his book, Thompson writes: “There are plenty of bad things to say about me, but misogynist, bigot, homophobe, xenophobe, racists or murderer aren’t on the list. I know I’m not those things.” “Why should I care what they call me? I’m blessed when they say evil things against me falsely for Jesus’s sake … Friends tell us things that are hard to hear. A friend isn’t going to let us continue in our sin.” ...read more read less