As Josh Abbotoy surveys the lush forests and grasslands nestled among the Appalachian hills of Tennessee, he describes what he intends to build here: a neighborhood with dozens of residential lots, centered around a farmland and, more importantly, a church.

“It’s quite possible that a client will buy and build more or less where we are right now,” he says as we climb to the top of a hill.

Abbotoy is the founder of the Ridgerunner real estate company, which has bought land here and in the neighboring state of Kentucky. But his is not just any real estate project.

Abbotoy is a prominent figure in conservative American circles and describes his project as an “affinity-based community,” aimed not only at people interested in the peace and quiet of rural life, but also in a constellation of right-wing ideals.

“Faith, family, and freedom,” he says. “Those are the values ??we try to celebrate.”

At first, he didn't attract much attention from the locals when he settled in Jackson County.

But in late 2024, a local television report brought to light controversial statements from two of Abbotoy's earliest and most outspoken clients: Andrew Isker, a pastor and writer from Minnesota, and C. Jay Engel, a businessman from California.

They call themselves “Christian nationalists” and question modern values, challenging whether women's suffrage and the civil rights movement were good ideas, and calling for mass deportations of legal immigrants that far exceed President Donald Trump's current plan.

Another thing they sometimes say is, “Repeal the 20th century.”

The television report raised concerns among some local residents.

“You don't know who these people are or what they're capable of,” he says. Nan Coons, a middle-aged woman,during a recent interview near the town square of Gainesboro, where this land is located.

“And that’s scary.”

Although Abbotoy himself does not identify as a Christian nationalist, he maintains that concerns about his tenants are exaggerated.

Since then, the Ridgerunner development has attracted national attention. And the residents of Gainesboro, a town of about 900 people and a single traffic light, have found themselves embroiled in a dispute that mirrors much larger political battles.

Podcasters Move In

Isker and Engel announced their move to Gainesboro last year on their podcast Contra Mundum, which is Latin for “against the world.”

On their show, now recorded in a studio inside Ridgerunner’s Gainesboro office, they have encouraged their followers to move to small communities, seek local influence, and join them in their fight to place strict conservative Christian values ??at the center of American government.

“If you could create places where you could exercise political power,” Isker said in one episode, “which might mean being on the county commissioners’ board, or even having influence over the county commissioners and the sheriff… being able to do those things is extremely valuable.”

On X, Engel has popularized the idea of ??“heritage Americans,” a vague concept that applies primarily to Anglo-Protestants whose ancestors came to the United States at least a century ago. He claims it doesn't explicitly refer to white people, but that it has “strong ethnic correlations.”

He has called for the mass deportation of immigrants, including legal ones, and has written: “Peoples such as Indians, Southeast Asians, Ecuadorians, or African immigrants are the least able to integrate and should be sent home immediately.”

They have also expressed anti-gay sentiments in their broadcasts and writings.

The podcasters deny being white nationalists. Both are Ridgerunner clients, and Isker's church will move to the community chapel when it is finished.

The “Resistance”

Their radical views have alarmed residents, and some neighbors have formed an informal resistance group.

“I think they’ve been trying to brand our city and county as the headquarters of their Christian nationalist ideology,” says Diana Mandli, a city matriarch and prominent local businesswoman who until recently owned a pub on Gainesboro’s central square.

Late last year,Mandli led the protest by writing a message on a chalkboard outside his business: “If you are a person or group that promotes the inferiority or oppression of others, please eat somewhere else.” More signs against the new project followed. When people learned that Ridgerunner officials were holding a meeting at a nearby fast-food restaurant, dozens of people turned out to confront them.

Nan Coons, whose ancestors have lived in Gainesboro since the time of the American Revolutionary War, says she struck up a conversation with Engel.

“He explained to me that what they’re promoting is what he calls 'family voting'… one vote per family, and of course, the husband in that family would be the one to vote,” effectively excluding women from the electorate.

Engel has since publicly stated that it is not “wrong” for women to vote, though he does support the idea of ??family voting.

In a county where 80% voted for Donald Trump in the last election, Coons is used to having neighbors with conservative views.

But she and others left the protest more convinced than ever that their new neighbors’ beliefs were too extreme.

They say they don't want to run them out of town, but they intend to raise the alarm about what they consider extreme views, as well as thwart any future attempts to take control of the local government.

“This is where we have to draw the line,” Coons says.

What is Christian nationalism?

Christian nationalism is a nebulous worldview without a single, coherent definition.

At its most radical end, as described by theorists such as author Stephen Wolfe, Christian nationalists advocate for the rule of a “Christian prince,” an all-powerful religious dictator who reigns over civil authorities and guides his subjects toward “godliness.”

Less extreme versions take the form of calls for Christian law to be explicitly enshrined in American legal codes, for religious leaders to become deeply involved in politics, or simply for recognition the Christian background of America's Founding Fathers.

This multiplicity of definitions has created a strategic ambiguity that, according to experts, has contributed to Christian nationalism infiltrating the mainstream.

Big ideas or a far-right plan?

Abbotoy's project is still in its early stages: his company is building roads and organizing the healthcare infrastructure.

When the BBC visited the site in November,The workers were busy tearing down an old, crumbling barn, one of many that dot the Appalachian landscape. But business is booming. About half the lots are already leased. Abbotoy expects the first homes to be built and new customers to start moving in early 2027. Many of his customers, he says, are moving to the Republican-majority state of Tennessee from Democratic-majority states like California and New York. “People want to live in communities where they feel they share important values ??with their neighbors,” he says. Abbotoy says he doesn’t consider himself a Christian nationalist, but calls criticism of his customers “absurd” and says they have no intention of trying to take over local government. “They talk about big ideas and books,” he says. Regarding some of his more controversial views, he insists that “turning back to the 20th century can mean many things. Many conservatives would say we took many wrong turns.” Isker and Engel did not respond to multiple requests for comment and a list of questions. Small-town struggle swings across the nation. The struggle here in Gainesboro has drawn figures far beyond the small Tennessee town. Abbotoy, who trained at Harvard Law School, is also a partner at a conservative venture capital fund, New Founding, and the founder of American Reformer, a website that has published the writings of other prominent Christian nationalists. Meanwhile, his opponents have received research and advice from a national organization, States at the Core, created last year to combat authoritarianism in small communities. It is funded by a constellation of left-wing organizations. States at the Core declined our interview request.