Morganton Fellowship

Mission: Jeremiah 6:16 - "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."

From www.ic.org/directory/morganton-fellowship/:

Our names are Ryan and Siobhan Gagliardo. We are a Christian husband and wife with five young children in search of spiritual fellowship in Morganton, NC. If we had to define ourselves in denominational terms (which we are not fond of doing!) it would have to be Mennocostal Quaker, which breaks down to: “Menno” for Mennonite (Menno Simons and the Anabaptists), “Costal” for Pentecostal (Book of Acts), and Quaker (John Woolman). My wife and girls wear Mennonite dresses and my wife wears a headcovering. We both became Christians in our teenage years while attending an Assemblies of God church. We searched the Bible over the years and prayed to God for answers to life's greatest questions. It has been very hard for us to fit into most churches and to accept the many unbiblical and unnatural lifestyles and traditions that often prevail.

We share family Bible readings, prayer, and singing together most evenings and Sunday mornings. We strive to raise our children to be quieter and well behaved, which has been an excruciating challenge, but well worth it thanks to God’s help.

In application of our faith, we are growing more and more interested in how to live in greater harmony with the natural world that God has given us. In the past we have raised chickens, ducks, and turkeys for meat and eggs. We just recently got back into keeping twenty chickens under a tractor coop that we move around the property. We have experience with keeping a few dairy goats and have learned a lot about the value of rotational pasture grazing for meat and milk. I (Ryan) have nearly finished a complete reading of Dr. Westin A. Price’s, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. It has been a truly epic and life changing read for me that has resonated so deeply with the many reflections I have had about modern life over the years.

My wife and I purchased a half acre of land in February 2017 with a small mobile home on it. It is mostly cleared land with plenty of space for gardening. Last year I took classes in the Asheville area about wild foods and medicine, which has touched upon many aspects of permaculture and sustainable living. We are heading toward foraging more for our food, which often includes fresh road killed deer and a variety of wild nuts and greens. There is also a lot of potential for fishing in local streams and lakes. With help, we could grow a lot more food on our property as well as on a field just walking distance down the road which we have permission to use. There is also a five acre bottomland plot just behind and adjoining our property which may soon become available to purchase.

There is a house for sale with several acres just catty corner to our place with a large separate workshop/garage and partly finished upstairs living space. There should also be a one acre homestead for sale just two houses down from us with a three bedroom house, fruit trees, and an already cleared field where there had been a garden in the past.

We don’t currently have much additional room in our two bedroom house other than a futon in the school room. Otherwise, we could park a small camper just next to the house and run a 120V power cord out to it. We could offer backyard tent/yurt/or other? space surrounded by woods. It is a quiet neighborhood on a side road which does not get much traffic. We have neighbors, but enough woods in between that we can hardly see any of them from the backyard.

We are currently off-grid for water and heat. We draw water by hand from a shallow well just behind the house. We haven’t perfected doing laundry by hand, but just recently found a hand wringer that we are about to use. We are on the verge of transitioning into composting our human waste. We also have a woodstove that we use for heat and a good amount of cooking. Our goal is to also do more outdoor wood cooking in dutch ovens as well as a Green Egg grill/smoker.

We are located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains just 15 min. north of South Mountain State Park in Morganton, NC. The famous city of Asheville is under an hour away, which we visit often enough. We love the outdoors and enjoy hiking, canoeing, camping, fishing, and foraging for wild foods. My wild food class introduced me to several new friends in and around Asheville.

We crave genuine loving fellowship with other believers or seekers of truth that are open to dialogue about life and faith. A mutual commitment to life growth will be essential and openness to receive the input of others into the deepest and often most personal and touchy areas of our lives. We try to be as Spirit-led and sensitive as possible, but real communal life will show us our truest selves very quickly. Our commitment is to utilize that experience to grow and allow God to refine and mature us in every way necessary.

I have dropped my normal factory (glassblowing) work hours to allow me to take care of home projects and eventually discover a more earth and family-oriented source of income. I have a few ideas that I am prayerfully exploring.

Je parle aussi assez bien francais et donc les francophones sont les bienvenus! J'ai voyage dans plusiers regions de la France et aussi un peu en Cote d'Ivoire. Ce sont des pays et une langue qui me manque beaucoup.

Hablo tambien bastante espanol. Yo vivi algunos meses en Costa Rica y viaje a Nicaragua, Cuba, Guatemala, y Puerto Rico.

May the Lord richly bless and lead you as you consider sharing fellowship with us!

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