# Highland Rim Project **Venture-backed Christian nationalist settlement project** in Jackson County, Tennessee, operated through RidgeRunner USA (founded by [[Joshua Abbotoy]]). Funded by [[Nate Fischer]]'s New Founding venture firm (backed by [[Marc Andreessen]], [[Balaji Srinivasan]], and other Silicon Valley investors). Anchored by [[Andrew Isker]]'s Whitleyville Reformation Church ([[CREC]]). The primary case study of the [[Christian Network State]] — the appropriation of [[Balaji Srinivasan]]'s secular exit-ideology framework for Christian nationalist settlement. For the full ideological analysis, see the [[Christian Network State]] page. This page covers the Highland Rim Project as a specific real-world implementation. ## Structure The project operates through a layered infrastructure: | Layer | Entity | Function | |---|---|---| | **Capital** | New Founding ([[Nate Fischer]]) | $10M+ investment; Silicon Valley investor network | | **Territory** | RidgeRunner USA ([[Joshua Abbotoy]]) | Land acquisition: 450+ acres initially ($2.5M); subdivided into 39 parcels ($39K–$399K); expanding to "thousands of acres" | | **Church** | Whitleyville Reformation Church ([[Andrew Isker]]) | [[CREC]] anchor church; spiritual authority and community formation | | **Recruitment** | Contra Mundum podcast, American Reformer | Online recruitment pipeline for ideologically aligned settlers | | **Cadre** | Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) | Male-only fraternal order for political organization | ## Geography Located in the Eastern Highland Rim region — Gainesboro (county seat of Jackson County), approximately 90 minutes northeast of Nashville. Also expanding into Burkesville, Kentucky and the broader Highland Rim spanning parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama. The location was chosen for affordability, rural character, and politically sympathetic state government. ## Scale As of 2025–2026: 40+ households established, with plans for hundreds more. 4 businesses committed to relocate, projecting 150 jobs by 2027. The project is small in absolute terms but significant as a model: Fischer and Abbotoy intend to replicate across multiple states over 20+ years. ## The Moscow Model The Highland Rim Project consciously replicates Doug Wilson's Moscow, Idaho playbook — a [[CREC]] church as institutional anchor for an expanding ecosystem of schools, businesses, publishing, and eventually local political power. The difference is the funding mechanism: Wilson built Moscow organically over decades; the Highland Rim uses venture capital to compress the timeline. ## The Boniface Option The project operationalizes [[Andrew Isker]]'s "Boniface Option" — strategic offense rather than [[Rod Dreher]]'s "Benedict Option" of defensive retreat. The settlement is designed not for isolation but for local political capture: school boards, city councils, county commissions. The settlers are not monks — they are, in Isker's framing, colonists. ## KB Significance The Highland Rim Project matters because it is the **physical instantiation of the Christian Network State** — the point where Silicon Valley exit ideology, Reformed Protestant theology, and venture capital converge into actual real estate. It demonstrates that the [[Patchwork]]/network state framework is ideologically portable: designed by secular libertarians, funded by tech billionaires, implemented by Christian nationalists. The operational structure is the same; the content of governance changes. ## See Also - [[Christian Network State]] — Full ideological analysis - [[Joshua Abbotoy]] — Land developer; RidgeRunner USA - [[Nate Fischer]] — Venture capitalist; New Founding - [[Andrew Isker]] — Pastor; Whitleyville Reformation Church - [[Douglas Wilson]] — Moscow, Idaho template - [[Balaji Srinivasan]] — [[Network State]] theory; New Founding investor - [[Patchwork]] — The theoretical framework - [[Claremont Institute]] — Think tank connection (Fischer and Abbotoy are fellows) - [[The Unholy Alliance]] — The three-wing strategic architecture