diff --git a/config.sample.json b/config.sample.json
index 98bcfdd..365f1c5 100644
--- a/config.sample.json
+++ b/config.sample.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
     "project_id": "bigquery-public-data",
     "dataset_id": "samples",
-    "table_id": "github_timeline"
+    "table_id": "github_timeline",
+    "validate_records": true
 }
diff --git a/target_bigquery.py b/target_bigquery.py
index b520223..4486c4e 100644
--- a/target_bigquery.py
+++ b/target_bigquery.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ def build_schema(schema):
 
     return SCHEMA
 
-def persist_lines_job(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None, truncate=False):
+def persist_lines_job(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None, truncate=False, validate_records=True):
     state = None
     schemas = {}
     key_properties = {}
@@ -130,7 +130,8 @@ def persist_lines_job(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None, truncate=False):
 
             schema = schemas[msg.stream]
 
-            validate(msg.record, schema)
+            if validate_records:
+                validate(msg.record, schema)
 
             # NEWLINE_DELIMITED_JSON expects literal JSON formatted data, with a newline character splitting each row.
             dat = bytes(json.dumps(msg.record) + '\n', 'UTF-8')
@@ -189,7 +190,7 @@ def persist_lines_job(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None, truncate=False):
 
     return state
 
-def persist_lines_stream(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None):
+def persist_lines_stream(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None, validate_records=True):
     state = None
     schemas = {}
     key_properties = {}
@@ -219,7 +220,8 @@ def persist_lines_stream(project_id, dataset_id, lines=None):
 
             schema = schemas[msg.stream]
 
-            validate(msg.record, schema)
+            if validate_records:
+                validate(msg.record, schema)
 
             errors[msg.stream] = bigquery_client.insert_rows_json(tables[msg.stream], [msg.record])
             rows[msg.stream] += 1
@@ -290,12 +292,14 @@ def main():
     else:
         truncate = False
 
+    validate_records = config.get('validate_records', True)
+
     input = io.TextIOWrapper(sys.stdin.buffer, encoding='utf-8')
 
     if config.get('stream_data', True):
-        state = persist_lines_stream(config['project_id'], config['dataset_id'], input)
+        state = persist_lines_stream(config['project_id'], config['dataset_id'], input, validate_records=validate_records)
     else:
-        state = persist_lines_job(config['project_id'], config['dataset_id'], input, truncate=truncate)
+        state = persist_lines_job(config['project_id'], config['dataset_id'], input, truncate=truncate, validate_records=validate_records)
 
     emit_state(state)
     logger.debug("Exiting normally")