NA: Day 3, Afternoon

Wow, what an amazing time we are having at New Attitude. (sorry, it seems like I'm rubbing it in. I'm really not, just excited) Yesterday was the most amazing day for messages. God has really blessed us with gifted speakers at this conference. Yesterday we had three messages.
First, in the morning, we had Mark Devor speak on the storyline if the Bible. Remember when he spoke at Celebration on 1 Corinthians and went through the entire book? Well, let's multiply that a little. Mark Devor took it a step further. He used the same type of formula but went through the entire Bible. That's right, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. From page 1 to page 1252 (ok, well not every page, but you get the idea)
Second, in the afternoon, Mike Bullmore spoke on the Centrality of the Gospel. He spoke on how the Gospel applies to all aspects of life. He taught us how to take the Gospel and truths derived from the Gospel and apply them to every part of our lives. It really spurred everyone on to grow in Godliness.
Then, in the evening, the moment we had all been waiting for... C.J. Mahaney on the Cross. He went through a meditation of Jesus' atoning death on the Cross. He spoke mostly out of Isaiah 53 and it was compelling.
This has really been the best conference as far as the content of the messages spoken that I have ever been to. As far as that is concerned, it really blows Celebration out of the water. These speakers have really brought the very best of the best of their messages.
Speaking of Celebration, I was joking with Mr. Kittrell last night about his involvement in bringing New Attitude back from the dead. (supposedly he was a big part in pulling some strings to try to get them to bring it back again) I said, "You've succeeded in bringing New Attitude back, do you think you have a chance of bringing Celebration back?" He was writing something down at the time I asked him that and didn't even look up as he replied, "Yeah, 2008." CELEBRATION 2008!!! I can't wait! This is really exciting news!

ok, see you all later...

NA: Day 1

Well, the first day of New Attitude is over. We just heard an AMAZING message by Josh Harris on Humble Orthodoxy (a commitment to the Truths of the Bible).

I'll talk to you later, Paul wants me to go to bed.

bye...

New Attitude!

The Time Has Come!
New Attitude is tomorrow!
I can't wait to hear the amazing messages we will hear there. I've never heard Josh Harris speak in person so I'll be looking forward to that! Hear are the topics for the Main Sessions:

Joshua Harris: The Truth - —Rediscovering Humble Orthodoxy

Mark Dever: The Story - Understanding the Story Line of the Bible

Mike Bullmore: The Life - Applying the Gospel to All of Life

C.J. Mahaney: The Cross - Meditation on Jesus' Atoning Death

Jeff Purswell: The Power - Understanding and Experiencing the Holy Spirit

Eric Simmons: The Mission - —Reaching the World Next Door

Joshua Harris: The Family - Taking It Home to Your Local Church Community


WOW! I told my Mom the topics and she was shocked. She said it was like having a Greatest Hits Collection of past Celebration conferences. I can't wait to benefit from hearing these gifted men speak. C.J. on the Cross, Josh Harris on the Church, Mark Dever on the Bible! How much better does it get?!

See you all when we get back (don't forget to pray for us)!

The Da Vinci Code

Hey everybody:
The last few weeks I have been debating on whether or not to see the movie, The Da Vinci Code. My decision finally came this week when I watched an interview with the cast and fimmakers and when I read some quotes from the movie. Here's some of what I heard to help you all understand my decision and help you all make a decision of your own (you all have probably made a decision). This will also help you all be more informed about what kind of attacks are out there against the Bible, Christianity, and God Himself.

ok, here's the interview. It was from the Today show on NBC: (this was taken from a website review)

Matt Lauer"There have been calls from some religious groups, they wanted a disclaimer at the beginning of this movie saying it is fiction because one of the themes in the book really knocks Christianity right on its ear, if Christ survived the crucifixion, he did not die for our sins and therefore was not resurrected. What I'm saying is, people wanted this to say 'fiction, fiction, fiction'. How would you all have felt if there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie? Would it have been okay with you?"

There was a pause, and then famed British actor Ian McKellen [Gandalf of Lord of the Rings], piped up:

"Well, I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction. I mean, walking on water, it takes an act of faith. And I have faith in this movie. Not that it's true, not that it's factual, but that it's a jolly good story. And I think audiences are clever enough and bright enough to separate out fact and fiction, and discuss the thing after they've seen it."

With the camera focused on McKellen, one could hear a distinctly nervous laugh in the background, seeming to come from either actor Tom Hanks or director Howard. McKellen's stunning bit of blasphemy is likely to test the adage that all publicity is good publicity.

Here's a link for the mp3 of the interview: http://newsbusters.org/media/2006-05-17-NBCToday.mp3

ok, that was one reason. Another was some of the quotes from the movie. These are taken from Plugged In Online, a Christian movie review site kinda like Screen It. Here They are:

Robert's old friend and fellow historian, Sir Leigh Teabing, goes to some length to blame God and His followers for the majority of the world's ills—past and present. In his mind, freedom for mankind can come only if everyone stops believing in God. "As long as there has been one true God, there has been killing in His name," he states. Later he asks, "What if the world finds out that the greatest story ever told is a lie?" And he wants Jesus to be "shown for what He was, not miraculous, mad."

here's another one:

A mysterious albino monk (named Silas), who is under orders from a dogmatic Roman Catholic sect, prays in front of a crucifix before setting out to kill. He also prays over a person he has just slain. He allows a victim to recite a last prayer before shooting him. And he says, "Christ give me strength," before killing.

and yet another one:

A secret society says its mission is to "protect the source of God's power on earth." A clue unearthed by the monk contains a stone with Job 38:11 etched on it; a nun later recites part of the verse: "This far you may come and no farther." The nun then tells Silas: "Jesus had but one true message." Sophie later challenges the same killer monk: "Your god doesn't forgive murderers; he burns them."

Well, I think that about covers the decision not to see the movie. I came to the conclusion that I did not have self-control to sit through that movie.

ok, talk to you later...

Sundown in the City

Last night I went to Sundown in the City @ Market Square. The person performing was Imogen Heap. She was a little weird. She played a bunch of sythesizers. The cool thing was it was just her on stage doing it all.
I went with my good friend, Pierce LaMacchia, and someone from work.
Sundown is always a interesting experience. It is a place where sin runs rampant. It was really sad to see people indulging in the flesh like that. It reminds me of what Paul describes in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6. It really showed me how ugly sin really is. Sometimes we don't see sin for what it really is, an offence to God. Jerry Bridges puts it best in "The Gospel For Real Life.":

It is here that we begin to realize the seriousness of sin. All sin is rebellion against God's authority, a despising of His Law, and a defiance of His commands. W.S. Plumer wrote, "We never see sin aright until we see it as against God. All sin is against God in this sense that it is His Law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught (nothingness).

Sundown helped reinforce that idea. It reminded me that my sin is no different then the sin I saw last night.

Sundown did help me see a gift that God has given me, my sisters in Christ. What a gift you all are to us poor guys! As I saw guys and girls giving themselves away to each other, I was reminded of how Godly my sisters are and how committed to purity they are. I saw the big contrast between the world and these girls, and it is a huge contrast! I also was reminded of how wise and Godly my parents were in keeping straight in line and not letting me go astray.

Now, this is for all the RELAY guys that read my blog: LOOK AROUND YOU!!! LOOK AT THE GIFT GOD HAS GIVEN TO YOU! HE HAS GIVEN YOU GODLY SISTERS AND GODLY PARENTS! YOU WILL NOT EASILY FIND THIS AROUND YOU WHEN YOU GET TO COLLEGE!

You are in a unique position as homeschoolers in that the only people you have to interact with during the schooltime is your family and people from Church. Do you see what a gift God has given you? He has sovereignly put you in a Godly family and sovereignly put you in an amazing Church!

Just a few thoughts from someone a little bit older...

Coincidence, I think not!

I have a problem. I now have a fan club it seems. I have seen these 3 people at least once every single day this week.





I think they are following me...
We'll have to wait and see how this turns out...
Talk to you later...

New Blog!!!

Well, here is the new blog. With new looks comes a new look on blogging. I am going to try to post more often and be more open with the posting. If anybody has any suggestions they would like to see please let me know in person or on the comment section.

also, I am going to try to get more people into the blogging sphere, so expect to see some new faces

Thank You,
Matthew Reynolds

WOW!! What a school year!

I am going to try to recount the past school year now that I am done with this semester:

P.S. (this is more for my enjoyment and recollection. It's good for me to remember and then get it on paper. Thanks

Here we go:

August:

Welcome Booths:
I met a lot of interesting people helping out with the booths.

Helped out with the filming and editing of the UT Freshman: A Documentary Part 2. Met Josh Cantrell for the first time. No comment. Also met Lora Dickson, Hannah Poschel, Holly Fisher, and Andrew Thornberry.

Dishwater Blonde Concert:
Great concert. Met John Mason, Stephen Brickey, and many others.

First Bible Study:
Got lost trying to find Clement. Walt wasn't much help. Started to get to know Brenden Japp better.

September

Went on vacation with my family.

VFC party at the VFC house. karaoke. That was funny. Met Travis Evans. We sang "Build Me Up Buttercup" together. Watching the interns sing "Celebration" was priceless. Wasn't as funny as seeing Tara Ferrell try to sing "Love Shack" and then realizing that the last verse was really bad.

Started really enjoying going to Gus's after VFC. Threw a ketchup packet in Tara's hair. The ketchup packet popped open when it hit her. She has never forgotten that incident.

LSU game party:
I stayed for the entire game. All the guys there revealed a lot of sin that was in our hearts. We threatened to burn all of our UT appeal before halftime. Brenden left at halftime. The rest of us enjoyed a great 2nd half.

Football booths:
These were a blast! Travis Evans and I tried the entire season to get the oven to work. It didn't like us. We had to hit it very hard to get it to work. We prayed for it to work. The last game of the season it worked. We still to this day believe the oven was demon-possessed

October

ANTHEM!!!
WOW!!! This was my first VFC conference. It was amazing. God really worked in our lives during that trip. I got to know a lot of people really, really well at that trip. I could spend forever writing about Anthem, but if you would like to know more I wrote a post about it a while ago, it was a good post.

VFC Fall Funk
This was a blast. Travis Evans with his headless man! Marko and Dash switching roles! I then realized that Josh Cantrell has an obsession with that dinosaur.

November

Thanksgiving:
filmed the video Double Trouble with Pierce LaMacchia all in one day. That was a really funny video. We then showed it to people at work on Black Friday the next day.

December

Cornerstone Church Grand Opening!!! enough said.

VFC Christmas Party:
It was a good time to celebrate Christmas with the people I had been spending the last months with.

New Members Sunday (fall):
It was cool to see a lot of people that I knew becoming members.

New Years Eve Party at the Japps:
It was great to bring in the new year the right way: at about 11:30 we all gathered to together to pray and thank the Lord for a great year and ask for His goodness for 2006. The clock turned 2006 exactly 3 seconds after we said amen. That was a lot better then watching a ball drop.

January

Trip to Brickey's house in Virginia:
This was one of the best trips of my life. It's the only trip that I can say has the ability to beat VQ has the best trip of my entire life. I got to know the people we went with: Marko Priestly, Anna Priestly, Tara Ferrell, Kevin Shipp, Paul Steele, Chris Plop, Wei Li, Jared Holbrook, Nick Elledge, Meagan Rimshaw, Emily Rimshaw, Eva Cochran, Traci Thornton, Lora Dickson, Hannah Poschel, Mama Jo (Joanna Holbrook), Kathleen Luster, Jill Brickey, and Stephen Brickey.
I rode up there with Marko, Anna, and Tara. I experience amazing biblical fellowship, interesting music, and a lot of fun. I don't think I would know those 3 people as well as I do if I hadn't rode with them up there. The rest of the trip was amazing. I played Murder-in-the-Dark for the first time.

I took a trip with part of my fam to go to Chicago for my brother's gymnastics meet. I had never been to Chicago before that. I really liked that city. We also stay with the Kotynski's while we were up there.

nothing else really happened in January. We stopped going to Gus's. I don't like that, I liked Gus's.

February

Voice Concert
enough said.

I think the best thing that happened in February was my birthday.

Valentine's Party:
It was a great time for us guys to serve our sisters.

Video Scavenger Hunt:
Our team won! (of course we had 2 Video Production Majors, a Photography major, a multi-thousand dollar camera, and won because of best cinematography. Oh well, I didn't pick the teams.

March

I can't really think of anything that happened during March.

April

JUST KIDDING!!!

March

VISON QUEST 2006!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that's about enough, it's an already long post. If you would like me to go into an in-depth post on VQ I can do it later, just tell me. Also, I still have more VQ DVD's for anyone interested. They are not limited to VFCers. If you were a VFCer, or know of some and heard about how amazing VQ is, or if you just want a copy I still have some more.

Women's Conference:
I did not go, but my mom told me it was amazing. She also got to know a bunch of VFCers during that trip. Those of us that stayed in town experienced a total disaster that is VFC without girls. I'm not exaggerating, it was a disaster.

April
Easter:
Easter was fun. I had a some of my closest friends over for Easter dinner: Paul Steele, Jonathan Kelfer, Eric Gamble, and Tara Ferrell.

I was sick about half of the month of April so I don't remember much.

End of the year bash:

Kickball, soccer, volleyball, frisbee, Insane concert, VFC videos, nuff said.

May

Finals:
They are now over!!!


Well that was the year. It was an amazing year. I still can't believe all this and more happened. This was the best school year of my life!

Marko Priestly

here is the long-awaited (yeah right) poem about my good friend, Marko Priestly:

His name is Marko Priestly
and he really isn't greasy
He lives in a house that is pink
and yes, it really does stink
His name is Marko
but he's not that great at polo
His name is Marko Priestly
now wasn't that easy

Marko has a sister
I don't think she knows how to whisper
Her name is Anna
She played a song with Susanna
Anna is Marko's sister
Now don't waste your life mister