Aux-Captain Matthew Pittman: Saved to Serve

Today, Auxiliary-Captain Matthew Pittman is the corps officer at Robert's Arm-Pilley's Island Corps—back at the very church where he grew up in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. But 10 years ago, he couldn't have been further away from a life of ministry.

On this episode of the Salvationist podcast, Auxiliary-Captain Matthew shares his journey, from addiction and depression to salvation and Salvation Army officership. 

Interested in officership? Visit Salvationist.ca/candidates for more information.

Transcript

Kristin Ostensen  

This is the Salvationist podcast. I’m Kristin Ostensen. Have you ever been listening to someone giving a brief testimony and thought, I would like to hear more of their story? That was how I felt listening to Auxiliary-Captain Matthew Pittman share at Welcome Weekend last September. His testimony touched my heart, and I’m so happy to have him on the podcast today, where he shares his journey from addiction and depression to salvation and Salvation Army officership.

Hi Auxiliary-Captain Matthew. Thank you so much for joining us today on the Salvationist podcast. It's great to have you. 

Matthew Pittman

Thank you. 

Kristin Ostensen  

So, I'm wondering if we can start off by talking a little bit about your background. Can you tell us about yourself and your early years?

Matthew Pittman

I grew up in a little town called Pilley’s Island. The current population is a little less than 300 so they say, like, the schools that we attended were from several different communities, all coming together to one school, because we're such a small population. And, you know, childhood was, growing up was simple, because it was, growing up in a small town we were free to go and do what we liked, whenever we liked. Yeah, you know, you just—there wasn't a lot of big things to be involved in, but you made your own fun. I grew up, not like—I wasn’t in church every Sunday, but my parents did send me to Sunday school. I went to the youth group, junior soldiers. I was actually enrolled as a junior soldier when I was younger. But my grandparents had deep Christian roots. My grandfather, he was the property sergeant at the corps in Pilley’s Island. And my grandmother used to help clean it and different stuff like that. And my dad's brother and sister are officers, so, you know, we had some deep roots within The Salvation Army. And like I said, even though I didn't attend every Sunday, I was still involved in different activities and stuff, and my grandparents were heavily involved in the corps.

Kristin Ostensen  

So, you were involved a bit in the church, but it sounds like it wasn't something that really you connected deeply with at that point in your life, perhaps.

Matthew Pittman

No.

Kristin Ostensen  

And you mentioned in your testimony at Welcome Weekend that you went through a time of struggle in your younger years and ended up turning to drugs and alcohol. Can you tell us a little bit about what led to that and how that affected you?

Matthew Pittman

It was around when I was 19 years old. I was working in St. John's at the time. I just finished trade school and started working at a dealership. I just finished my Automotive Service Technician program, so I was working as a mechanic at the car dealership. I just started feeling very tired, very—I really didn't know what was going on. So I started going to the doctor. They did all sorts of different things, blood work and different things, and everything was OK, but I still, I just felt like I couldn't function. So finally, just, I just broke. I just broke mentally, and I just, I totally crashed. I had a mental breakdown. And after that, I sort of turned to marijuana a lot—that was my coping mechanism for several years. I hardly ever got a full week of work in. I just, you know, I just couldn't function. And eventually I turned to drinking on top of it, and that just spiralled me further out of it. I was maybe working three days a week then. I honestly don't know how the employer I was with even kept me, but they did. But as the drinking got more excessive, I got into cocaine, which, you know, I wasn't a full-blown cocaine addict, I guess you would call it. But when the opportunity came, I got into it, and that just, like I said, that just spiralled me further and further and further away, and until finally came to the point where, that it just—I had a young daughter, I had a young family at the time, and it that was when I hit rock bottom, was when my family fell apart. My girlfriend at the time, she moved out, and my daughter moved out. And that was my rock bottom moment. That was in January, and I just struggled from then, and it was just like something was calling me to something different. So, my grandfather's friend kept telling me, you know, Come, bring, bring your little girl to church. And I did, and I started going, and I absolutely loved it, because I always loved the gospel singing anyway, and gospel, you know, it was something, even when the years of partying, was always came back to gospel music. You know, that was my go-to thing. So anyway, I started going. And eventually, Pastor Tetford was filling in at the Salvation Army church in Triton at the time, and he made this altar call that was a little different. He wanted everybody to close their eyes, and if somebody was struggling to slip their hand up. So I thought, Well, nobody's looking. So I slipped my hand up, and I heard him say, Bless you, my friend. And I can remember standing up, and that was it. And then I remember when I knelt at the altar, there was two men came alongside of me, and they were two men that I grew up around in Pilley's Island, deep Christian roots in the corps in Pilley’s Island. And they were there, and they came around me. And then when I stood up, the whole church was around me. And I was like, What am I … ? But I can remember that night, it was just—like, sweat was just pouring out of me. Like, everything was just coming out. And I just said, Lord, take it all. Take it all. It's all yours. And you know, most people that goes through addictions don't get the immediate deliverance. But—I'm not saying I did. It wasn't, like, immediate. But it was easy for me. I walked away from it all. And I don't know if I mentioned this at Welcome Weekend or not, but I was going to an addictions counselor, and she said, Matthew, what you're doing is not humanly possible. And I told her, I said, Well, you don't know Jesus, because with Jesus, everything is possible. And it was possible for me to overcome the addictions that I was in without going through a treatment program or anything. I just I gave it all to him. And I think that's the thing that a lot of us do today, when we come out of addictions, is, we don't want to give it all. We want to keep certain parts of our life. We want to keep attached. We don't want to give Jesus everything. And unless you're willing to give it all to him, you'll never, I don't think you'll ever change, unless you're willing to give it all.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, what a beautiful story of transformation and that's so true. Can you tell us a little bit more about how your life changed after that? So, you mentioned the addiction just sort of faded away. And what else changed for you after that moment? It was in 2016, right? 

Matthew Pittman  

Yeah. 

Kristin Ostensen

When you came to Christ. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

Matthew Pittman

I came to Christ in 2016. It was in April—April 3, 2016. I have it written on the wall right there, actually.

Kristin Ostensen

Wow, is that like a reminder? If you're having a difficult day, it's like: “April 3, 2016.” It's like an anchor. 

Matthew Pittman  

Yeah. And, I mean, my life changed tremendously. I had a different outlook on life. I was happy. And I even showed up five days a week for work, which was odd.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, your employer was like, Who is this guy?

Matthew Pittman

Yeah. So, my wife, Laura, she was youth director at the corps in Triton at that time when I got saved. And I knew her from previous because when I was living in St. John's, working, my uncle who's an officer, he wanted me to come over for dinner. And he said, We'll go to church. I said, Yeah, but I don't want to go to one of those big city corps. I was like, I want to go to, like, a bay corps. He's like, Yeah, OK, it's St. John's West. I said OK. And that's where I met Laura first, and that was in 2009, I guess, when I was, that was back in 2009. And she was, then she became friends with my cousin and, you know, friends of that part of the family. So, and then I guess in 2015, I think, or 2014, she got moved out of there to Triton, and that was the same time that I was going through a lot of struggles. So, when I look back over it now, I really believe that the Lord sent her this way to save me from, you know, because she was a big, big pivotal point in in my life, to know that someone cared for me that, you know, I was so dark, in addictions and stuff, but still she, you know, she cared for me. And, you know, we became friends, and eventually we ended up in a relationship. Now we're married with three children. 

Kristin Ostensen

Beautiful.

Matthew Pittman

Now we've we moved into ministry. So, you know, it's just, if you look back over, the Lord worked in a very mysterious way, right. Because she’s seen me at some of my darkest and lowest points, but still, you know, always stayed there for me, and, you know, picked me up when I needed it most. So, you know, I really do believe that the Lord sent her this way for me. And my mom always said it, too—that, you know, the Lord definitely sent her here for you. And she used to say, you know.

Kristin Ostensen

That’s so beautiful. And when did you two get married?

Matthew Pittman

We got married May the 20th, 2017.

Kristin Ostensen  

Wonderful. And of course, you became an auxiliary-captain last year. Can you tell me about your calling to ministry? So, that sort of getting saved to deciding God was calling you to serve. What was that journey like for you?

Matthew Pittman

I had a calling full-time ministry, I guess, at a very young age. There's a picture of me in the Young Soldier, actually, and they asked me different questions, like my favourite food and different things. And they asked me my ambition. And my ambition at six years old was to be like Billy Graham.

Kristin Ostensen

Wow.

Matthew Pittman

That was my ambition. And so, you know, I always had a longing. Even when I was really young, I always—when Captain Drover was our corps officer, I was his buddy. He always had me singing different things. “There's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me” was a chorus that I always sang when I was young. But eventually, as time went on, you know, I drifted away from it. But I guess you can say that the call was always there. Like, every time I would drive along by the church, you know, I'd just look in. You know, just had that longing, that you wanted to be there, but you just didn't really know how to go about it. And in 2019 we went to Winnipeg for the Officer Information Weekend. And, you know, we felt that the Lord was calling us. And we started the course for introduction to officership, but I just couldn't finish it at the time because where my work schedule. So anyway, sort of just got put on the back burner. And at same time, we had a change of officers, and then the Covid started, and things just, sort of just got pushed to one side. You know, the calling was always there. Myself and Laura, we did mention it the odd time in conversations or whatever, you know—like, No, I don't, maybe it's not for us, you know. And so, the Lord didn't open the doors at that time. And I believe that he had a reason why, because we struggled after in our marriage. We struggled to the point, you know, we had to go through counselling in order to save our marriage. We went to a Christian counsellor. And so, I believe that the Lord didn't open the doors then, because if he did, we wouldn't be in today. I don't think we would be officers today if we went at that time—the timing wasn't right. But when we started the application process the second time, with Major Louise, things just fell into place, and the doors just started opening. Like, within six months we were here, the – accepted. You're the corps officer at Robert’s Arm-Pilley’s Island.

Kristin Ostensen  

Back in your own community, too.  

Matthew Pittman

Yes.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, wow, that's so neat. And in terms of your current appointment, obviously, it is your own community there. Can you tell us a bit about what it's like today? And thinking back on such a significant journey, how do you hope God will use you and use this testimony? Because I'm sure so many people can identify, if not with your whole journey, then with certain parts of it, and that kind of struggle, but God's faithfulness as well. 

Matthew Pittman  

Well, the current appointment. The corps is, it's not a big corps. We get, maybe we get between 50 and 60 on a Sunday morning. And our sanctuary only holds 75 so that's a crowd.

Kristin Ostensen

[laughs] Might have to go to two services if it gets much bigger.

Matthew Pittman

We got an overflow. So, there are mornings that we do have to open the overflow. You know, we have two services a Sunday. We have a morning and an evening. We still have the—when we came here, we brought back the old evening service because a lot of the congregation members wanted it, so we brought it back. And I'm really happy that we did, because we've had four people saved since we've been here, and four of them been in the evening services.

Kristin Ostensen

Wow. And that's in how many months now?

Matthew Pittman  

It's five months.

Kristin Ostensen 

Wow, that's wonderful.

Matthew Pittman 

So the Lord's moving in a mighty way. We've seen growth in the corps, in regards of attendance and stuff, to different things, different programs. We're getting 22, 23 people out to Bible study. You know, it's currently doing the Alpha program. So, that's what we're doing in place of Bible study. And, you know, we're getting good numbers and stuff. And a lot of people, you know, I know it was difficult at first, the way that we came in. You know, we were here soldiers at the corps, and then all of a sudden, we're your officers, right? 

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, yeah. It's kind of a switch.

Matthew Pittman  

It was a different transition, you know. And some people didn't think that it would ever go that way, you know. Like, many people said, the Army won't put you here because it's your own corps. But anyway, that's where we ended up. But my testimony, my story—like, people that knew me back when I was in my addiction, you know, they see the tremendous change. And you know, like, some, even my friends have, you know, they've been in different services and stuff, and they’re like, I just can't believe that you can do this with who you were and you can do this now. You know, it’s not in my strength, you know, it's in the Lord's. 

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah.

Matthew Pittman  

In regards to connecting with people with addictions and depression and stuff like that, I find that my testimony really helps that. Like, I can tell them, you know, I was there. I've been there. I've been through it. I know what the struggle is, and I know there's a way out. There's hope. You can overcome. You know, I talk to a few different individuals that are dealing with—you know, I try to help them the best that I can, the best that me and Laura can. You know, because she's part of the team as well, you know; she comes with different strengths. And we both had different strengths in it all.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, and at this point, you mentioned you've been in the appointment for five months, and things are going very well. And I'm wondering if you can talk about not just how God is working your corps, but also in your personal life as you go through this journey of officership.

Matthew Pittman

Well, the Lord's been working in my life. He's been drawing me in closer and closer, and I've been learning that being receptive to his voice is very, very important in in officership. When you’re leading the meeting and stuff, when something comes, when the Lord is placing something on your heart, I don't think you should walk away from it. It needs to be said. It needs to be done. You know, we have a lead when we go into a service, but that's only just something to go by. When the Spirit moves, I can take that and throw it out and just go by what the Holy Spirit wants. And I think that the people that have came to Christ in recent days here at the corps have been because we've been receptive to the Spirit, and when the Spirit moves, we don't shut it down. We don't quench the Spirit. We allow it to move, and we encourage freedom in the sanctuary. We want people to move. We want people to support one another at the mercy seat. We encourage it, for people to come to the mercy seat. Just yesterday morning, I, in my sermon, I noted that the mercy seat is not a place of shame; it's a place of exchange. Bring—you bring your brokenness, and the Lord will give you strength. You know, you bring your tears, and he'll give you joy. And that's what we've really been pushing—the mercy seat and prayer, you know, around the altar and stuff in the days we've been here. And we've been seeing the results of people Spirit moving, you know. And we've had people coming into our services that normally wouldn't, that are, you know, are not followers of Jesus. So, you know, they're hungry for something. And I also believe that this younger generation that's coming now are hungry because they've been starved hope. And we're seeing, we're seeing a stir in that, even with our youth programs. We've had youth worship nights, and, you know, to see kids come up to the altar, 14, 15 years old, just weeping, you know. So there's a hunger in their hearts, too, you know; it’s not just in the adults. And I think, since Christianity and stuff have been took out of schools and stuff, they have no hope anymore. And when they come and hear about the hope that's in Jesus, they become hungry for it.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, it's true. We are definitely looking for hope in this time. And it's a time of challenge for many people, and it's a beautiful picture, you know, of people coming to the mercy seat and finding that. And I love the idea of it being a place of exchange, because that's so true. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your testimony today. I know I was very touched when I heard you speak at Welcome Weekend, and I'm so glad we had the chance to talk and share a little bit more with the listeners of the podcast. So thank you so much. 

Matthew Pittman

Thank you.

Kristin Ostensen  

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. For more episodes, visit Salvationist.ca/podcast.