Christian Nationalism Is on the Ballot in the Conejo Valley

Follow the network, not the label.

While everyone is arguing over the Downtown Plan, something bigger is happening right out in the open. The question is whether we’re missing it, or choosing not to see it.

Before we dive in, I need you to remember seven things: government, education, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion.

They're called the Seven Mountains, a framework that calls on Christians to gain dominion over these major spheres of society to carry out an extreme Christian agenda. Please note that the government has its own mountain.

Before you file this under Weird Religious Stuff Happening Somewhere in Texas, look closer to home. This network runs through a church in Newbury Park, Pastor Rob McCoy, and Thousand Oaks Council member Mikey Taylor, who wants voters to return him to office this November. Taylor has an opponent for District One Thousand Oaks City Council, Karen Arreola.

Another branch runs directly through Ventura County pastor and congressional candidate Sam Gallucci, who is running against Jaqui Irwin for California's 26th District U.S. House of Representatives seat.

TL;DR: Here’s why this matters locally

• Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park taught its own Seven Mountains series.

• Local candidate Mikey Taylor participated in Seven Mountains: Business before Rob McCoy later identified him as a Godspeak elder. Taylor now holds public office and seeks another term.

• Local candidate Sam Gallucci has been publicly identified with the Harvest International Ministry network and appeared at its Global Summit. He is now running for Congress.

• HIM calls itself an apostolic network working to influence the Seven Mountains of society.

  
  

Yes, the names matter, but the network tells the story. Just stick with us for a quick bit of background, we promise to keep it brief.

What are the Seven Mountains?

The New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, is a movement centered on restoring modern-day apostles and prophets to Christian leadership. NAR doesn't operate like a traditional denomination with a headquarters and membership roll. Think less church directory, more spiderweb: churches, ministries, conferences and leaders linked through overlapping apostolic networks.

One of those networks is Harvest International Ministry, or HIM, founded by Ché Ahn. HIM calls itself an “international Apostolic Network” and explicitly promotes “influencing the seven mountains of society.”

C. Peter Wagner coined the term New Apostolic Reformation and founded the institution that became Wagner University, now led by Ahn. The university says it equips leaders to bring the Kingdom of God into the “7 Mountains of culture,” including education, business, media and government.

You don't even have to guess  what this network wants to influence, They tell you!

Keep that chain in mind.

One quick January 6 side note

Religion scholar Matthew D. Taylor's Charismatic Revival Fury documents how leaders and ideas associated with the NAR were essential in the religious mobilization surrounding efforts to overturn the 2020 election and January 6.

Paula White-Cain (in white), a NAR apostle, currently holds one of the most influencial positions within the White House.

Saying NAR attacked the Capitol is too simplistic. The evidence tells a more specific story: In the days leading up to the Capitol riots, prominent figures in these apostolic networks used prophecy, spiritual-warfare language and religious rallies to cast the fight to keep Donald Trump in office as a spiritual battle.

Ché Ahn also took part. On January 5, 2021, the HIM founder spoke at a Washington rally with Paula White-Cain and issued what he called a prophetic decree. White-Cain currently serves as a central bridge connecting the NAR network to political influence through the White House Faith Office and the National Faith Advisory Board.

I include January 6 for one reason: it shows how theology about influencing government can move from a pulpit into local and national electoral politics.

Now let’s bring it home and connect this network to our own backyard.

Sam Gallucci and the HIM network

Sam Gallucci is a Ventura County pastor running for California's 26th Congressional District, and his connection to HIM doesn't rest on a photograph, a handshake or six degrees of separation. A published biography identifies Gallucci as a member of the HIM network of churches.

He also participated as a panelist at HIM's 2023 Global Summit alongside Ché Ahn, Bill Johnson, Cindy Jacobs, Dutch Sheets, Lance Wallnau, James Goll and other figures in the charismatic and apostolic world.

His own ministry, Embrace Church, adds another piece. A ministry biography describes Embrace Church as having an “apostolic calling.”

Gallucci now wants a seat in Congress, one of the most powerful positions available on the government mountain. That's why this connection deserves scrutiny. Seven Mountains theology identifies government as one of seven institutions Christians should intentionally influence and transform according to their understanding of God's will. In its more dominionist forms, the goal goes beyond having a voice in government; it seeks Christian authority over the institutions that shape public life.

Now take the 101 to Newbury Park

The second branch sits much closer to home at Godspeak Calvary Chapel, Founded by Rob McCoy. McCoy has never built a wall between religion and politics. He served as mayor of Thousand Oaks and later became a leader in TPUSA Faith with Charlie Kirk, an openly Christian nationalist movement. In fact, McCoy introduced Kirk to the Seven Mountains and Kirk became a major promoter, organizer, and bridge for the Seven Mountains into mainstream conservative politics.

Mikey Taylor with Charlie Kirk, whom Taylor called a friend.

But the Seven Mountains has a longer history here in Ventura County, and it includes Mikey Taylor. In 2017, the church produced a sermon series explicitly titled “Seven Mountains.” The series covered Business, Arts and Entertainment, Education, Family, Religion and Politics.

This is not a vague reference, nor a neighboring ministry. Godspeak put Seven Mountains on the sermon schedule in Newbury Park. And the mic drop is our very own Mayor of Thousand Oaks seeking re-election for City Council, Mikey Taylor, participated.

Mikey Taylor and Seven Mountains: Business

On March 12, 2017, Godspeak presented “Seven Mountains: Business.” The archived description says the pastor spoke about business as a “mountain of cultural influence,” then held a Q&A with professional skateboarder and entrepreneur Mikey Taylor.

Around 45 minutes in, Taylor is forthcoming with his faith and how it manifests through his businesses. In the conversation, he says he was surprised to find that his business partner still had strong morals despite being a non-Christian. Towards the end he regards success as an avenue to evangelize others. That appearance doesn't prove Taylor adopted every piece of Seven Mountains theology. I can't tell you what's inside his head, and neither can anyone else.

What we can  tell you is what the record shows: Taylor participated in a Godspeak program built around the Seven Mountains framework.

But his relationship with the church ran deeper than one event.

Taylor wasn't simply a guest

In a 2020 conversation with Taylor (min 34:24), Rob McCoy discussed Godspeak's decision to remain open during its fight with Ventura County over COVID restrictions. McCoy decided to step down from his city council seat to do so, and described Taylor as one of Godspeak's elders and recollected he had played an instrumental role in that decision.

This is not just a Sunday visitor shaking the pastor's hand on the way out. An elder holds a leadership role inside a church, and a few years later, Taylor entered government. Now on the Thousand Oaks City Council and as mayor, he wants District 1 voters to give him another term.

Look at the timeline without adding anything to it. In 2017, Taylor participated in Seven Mountains: Business at Godspeak. McCoy later identified him as a Godspeak elder. Taylor then won elected office and now seeks another term in government.

To this day, Taylor has yet to confront his role as an elder at a Calvary church associated with Christian nationalist organizing, or his part in the decision to defy COVID stay-at-home orders, bringing hundreds of people together during a worldwide pandemic. That defiance was only possible after Rob McCoy stepped down from his Thousand Oaks City Council seat. Very ironic that very seat is now held by Mikey Taylor.

While Thousand Oaks argues over the Downtown Plan, the bigger question may be who is making these decisions. Mikey Taylor voted to move it forward, but whether or not you agree, the movements and institutions he has chosen to stand beside outside City Hall hold more weight than any single development vote.

On 10/4/26 Sam Gallucci and Mikey Taylor were joined at Godspeak Calvary Chapel by other candidates, including Gus Gougas for Thousand Oaks City Council District 2 and Lou Lichtl for VCCCD Trustee Area 2. Another candidate event inside a church raises obvious Johnson Amendment questions, ones that have been raised before at Godspeak.

Follow the network, not the label

Whether you call it white Christian nationalism, dominionism, Christian supremacy, or something else, religion scholar Matthew D. Taylor describes Christian nationalism as a spectrum. Arguing over who qualifies can distract from the substance. It’s like debating what to call the smoke while the fire burns behind you. Set the label aside for a moment and look at what’s actually happening.

HIM calls itself an apostolic network working to influence the Seven Mountains of society. Sam Gallucci has been publicly identified with the HIM network and appeared at its Global Summit. In Newbury Park, Godspeak taught its own Seven Mountains series, where Mikey Taylor participated in Seven Mountains: Business before Rob McCoy later identified him as a Godspeak elder. Today, Taylor holds public office and seeks another term, while Gallucci is running for Congress.

No suprise here, the Taylor and Gallucci campaigns team up to knock doors in Thousand Oaks.

You don't need a label to examine those connections. The record speaks for itself.

So far Mikey Taylor has not governed as an extremist, and we won't pretend otherwise. However, our concerns are specific: We don't want these ideologies normalized in our local government electeds. The risk is too great to our democratic principles, given they can become influential down the line when higher office is sought.

This isn't about Christianity or private faith. It's about those who may violate a firm line between religious freedom and religious power over government, especially at a time such as now when these Christian dominionists are already seated within the White House.

P.S. This isn't an attack on Christianity

Christianity isn't the issue. Millions of American Christians reject Christian nationalism and the idea that their faith gives them a mandate to control government. Many Christians see the fusion of political and religious power as a threat to their faith.

Religious freedom protects them. It also protects Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics and everyone else who lives under the same laws.

Government belongs to all of us.

When a religious movement names government as a sphere that Christians, above all others, should influence in order to further an agenda, and people connected to organizations teaching and participating in that framework seek public power, voters deserve to know those connections.

We can do better than Mikey Taylor and Sam Gallucci.  This November, follow the network, then decide what those connections mean when you fill out your ballot.