Followers, Family Celebrate as Popular Youth Pastor Matt Pitt of The Basement Is Freed From Jail
Popular youth pastor and founder of The Basement in Alabama, Matt Pitt, 30, emerged from the Shelby County jail elated and healthy-looking Sunday morning to cheering family and supporters after serving eight months behind bars.
In a heavily disputed ruling last October, Shelby County District attorney Robby Owens revoked Pitt's probation for impersonation a police officer in 2012 citing that he had violated the terms of his probation by getting arrested again last year for a similar offense.
"It was about 5:45 yesterday morning when he walked out the door [of the Shelby County jail]," said Blake Bolden, a personal friend of Pitt and staffer at The Basement, in an interview with The Christian Post Monday.
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"He looked good. He looked really good. He was solid," said Bolden.
He described Pitt's mood as "full of joy."
"I guess, as you can imagine, being stuck inside anywhere for eight months he was just, he was elated. He was just full of joy, full of passion, just as excited as he could be," he said. "We had a good bit of our team show up and of course all his family and his wife were there. And he was just beyond excited to see them."
Bolden said Pitt expects to be back in church [at the pulpit] shortly, but not before spending some time with his wife, Maegan, and the rest of his family.
"He's gonna spend some time this week with his wife. Probably spend a little bit of time with his family. He'll be back [in church] some time later this week or some time next week, depending on what he needs done. We really don't consider that he ever left. He just kind of took out a branch of The Basement Ministries and started a new one that we didn't have," said Bolden.
Another Basement staffer and Pitt's Friend, Vince Lovell, also shared his excitement about the youth pastor's release in a tweet.
"What a day! God is so faithful and no one has a clue what He is really bout to do through @_mattpitt & @thebasement," he noted.
Later on he explained to FOX6 that Pitt had started a revival in the Shelby County jail.
"You know they are having three services a day. It's literally like a full blown revival. White supremacists guys were getting saved. Gang members were cutting their ties," said Lovell.
An inspiring message was also tweeted from Pitt's Twitter account that said: "When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you!"
His excited supporters like Haley B Graydon also expressed their joy for him on social media.
"My hero! 'Throw me to the wolves and I'll come back leading the pack!' THATS @_mattpitt to me! No matter where he is, he's telling people about God! Reached so many lives for Jesus IN JAIL! So fired up he's FREEEE and can tell us all about what God did! #Leonidas #PittsFree," she noted on Instagram.
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