The Reverend Carol Johnson of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church offered a remarkable description of the congregation in a recently released undercover video, as reported [1] by The Gateway Pundit.
The church is identified as the home church of Democrat candidate James Talarico.
Brandon Waltens of Texas Scorecard released the video on Monday.
During the recorded conversation, Johnson discussed the congregation’s religious makeup, its values, its political priorities, and the illegal alien who has lived inside the church for eight years.
The source described the church’s principles as “wackadoodle,” and Johnson’s own comments supplied plenty of material.
Most notably, she said the congregation is not based on belief, an unusual sales pitch for an institution calling itself a church.
Johnson began by acknowledging that religious people apparently do not make up much of the congregation.
Her answer portrayed St. Andrew’s as a church where conventional religious belief is not the central concern.
“We don’t have a lot of people who are religious here. Right.”
She then added, “Yeah, it’s very interesting.” Johnson followed that observation with a warning not to laugh before explaining how she believes the church should be understood.
“Don’t laugh at me. We’re not a belief-based church; we’re a values-based church.”
Johnson said the congregation’s values come from the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. She described those values as mutual love, care for others, and opposition to empire.
“The beliefs are what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Loving each other, taking care of each other. Anti-empire.”
She also offered her account of what happened after the church became connected to the Holy Roman Empire.
According to Johnson, the Sermon on the Mount then lost its place while correct belief became the central concern.
“After the church became part of the Holy Roman Empire, suddenly Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount just went out the window, and it became all about beliefs and whether you believe the right thing. Right?”
Johnson said St. Andrew’s does not devote its time to what she called “that later stuff.” She specifically identified creeds as something the congregation does not spend time discussing.
“And so we don’t spend time on that later stuff. We don’t spend time on creeds. Right?”
The pastor instead said the congregation concentrates on the Sermon on the Mount.
Her explanation then shifted from theology to the church’s political and social priorities, including LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, and immigration.
“We focus on the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve stood up for LGBTQ+ rights forever. Right, right.”
Johnson continued by naming racial justice and immigration among the church’s concerns. She then revealed that a man from Guatemala has been living inside the church for eight years.
Johnson initially identified the man as being from Venezuela, then immediately corrected herself and said he was from Guatemala. The source characterized him as an illegal alien being harbored by the church.
“And racial justice. And we have immigration stuff, and we actually have a person.”
Johnson continued, “There’s a gentleman living in our church who is from Venezuela… No, Guatemala.” She then stated, “And he has lived here for 8 years.”
The questioner responded by describing St. Andrew’s as a sanctuary church and brought the conversation back to Talarico. The questioner said Talarico had discussed the congregation during interviews connected to his campaign.
“A Sanctuary Church. I’ve been following the Talarico campaign. I understand he goes to this church and speaks about it in interviews.”
Johnson confirmed Talarico’s close connection to St. Andrew’s with a brief response. “Yeah, he grew up in this church.”
EXCLUSIVE: Undercover footage shows a minister at James Talarico’s “Sanctuary church” admitting to harboring an illegal alien from Guatemala.
“We don’t have a lot of people who are religious here.”
“We’re not a belief-based church.” pic.twitter.com/p5zKZvItec [2]
— Brandon Waltens (@bwaltens) September 21, 2026 [3]
The exchange tied together the church’s unusual rejection of a belief-based identity, its embrace of progressive causes, and its decision to house the Guatemalan man for eight years.
Johnson did not retreat from any of those points during the recorded discussion.
Instead, she presented them as defining features of the congregation associated with Talarico.
For voters following the Democrat candidate, the undercover video provides Johnson’s own account of the church where she says he grew up.
The result is a revealing portrait drawn from the pastor’s own words.
St. Andrew’s may use the word “church,” but Johnson proudly described a congregation where beliefs and creeds take a back seat to progressive values and sanctuary activism.