About The Girl in the Pew
Who is The Girl in the Pew
Philistia Pittman is The Girl in the Pew, a tried and resilient believer who authentically shares truth forged over 40 years of experience. Driven by a deep desire to walk alongside you in your wilderness seasons of faith, she meets you exactly where you are: engaging with love, engaging with heart, and engaging with truth.
Engaging with Love
A Safe Place for Honest Faith
Driven by a love for Jesus and a heart for loving people, The Girl in the Pew exists to speak the truth in love.
The Girl in the Pew provides a safe space for the brokenhearted and those angry with God. It exists to accompany believers during their crisis of faith, proving that you can wrestle with God, express anger and emerge with an unshakable faith and profound reverence.
The primary goal is to guide individuals from a place of suffering through a crisis to a posture of surrender and trust. The aim is to help them reframe their rawest emotions and questions, seeing them not as acts of disrespect, but as the highest form of respect for God. This absolute, unfiltered honesty leads to a deeper, more authentic relationship with Him.
Walking Beside You
I’m not speaking from behind a mahogany pulpit or from the heights of a stage. I’m speaking from the third row, right side— where the carpet is worn and questions we can’t ask out loud drown out the message.
Same church, same journey. The only difference is that my path stretches back over 40 years. My experience and perspective help me understand what lies ahead, enabling me to walk alongside you.
Engaging with Heart
We do not gather for entertainment, but for a deep connection that honors where you are. This space is not designed to keep you comfortable in your present, but to equip you for the next stage of your adventure with God. These are the hallmarks and the heart of engagement for The Girl in the Pew:
Real.
When you bring your rawest self to God, you aren’t “disrespecting” Him—you are showing Him the highest form of respect: Trust. This is what I know after walking with the Lord for over forty years.
Relatable.
I get it. I’ll meet you in the “Why?” of your crisis. My experience isn’t academic; it was forged in the fire of real-life circumstances where the Holy Spirit was my primary teacher.
Raw.
A holy work can be accomplished in a theological temper tantrum. I’ve had many. I’m providing a loving space for your broken heart, anger and confusion. We won’t edit your pain; we take it unfiltered to the Father.
Reverent.
In the end, my “seniority in the pew” finds me on my knees. My respect for God runs deeper than my heartbreaks and perplexities; even when I don’t understand His decisions, my spirit bows. Because after forty plus years, I know for sure: As for God, His way is perfect. (Psalm 18:30).
Engaging with Truth
Scripture often paints a portrait of a life in two distinct acts. The Girl in the Pew has been sifted like wheat, suffered, and settled by God’s grace. To appreciate the weight of her message, you must understand her transformation journey. The first scripture reveals her “before” story. The second scripture unfurls the “after” story that defines and activates her present call. Now, obeying the call to strengthen others, she stands ready to walk alongside you, helping you navigate the challenges and complexities of your faith journey with truth.
Before
Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. – Luke 22 31-32
After
But the God of all grace, Who has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. – 1 Peter 5:10
Mission Statement
To walk alongside believers in their most painful moments of faith, offering a raw, relatable, and reverent perspective forged over forty years of real-life experience, transforming their relationship with God to unfiltered trust.
Purpose
The purpose of The Girl in the Pew is to provide a safe space for the broken hearted and those angry with God. It exists to accompany believers during their crisis of faith, proving that you can wrestle with God, express anger and emerge with a stronger faith, a more profound understanding of God and an unshakeable reverence.
Goal
The primary goal is to guide individuals from a place of suffering through a crisis to a posture of surrender and trust. The aim is to help them reframe their rawest emotions and questions not as acts of disrespect, but as the highest form of respect for God: an absolute, unfiltered honesty that leads to a deeper, more authentic relationship with Him.
Objectives
To achieve this goal, The Girl in the Pew operates on four pillars of engagement:
- Real: Teaching that honesty with God is not disrespect but an act of Trust. Affirming that God is big enough to handle your anger, doubts, and disappointments.
- Relatable: Creating a connection by meeting you in the "Why?" of your crisis, and sharing experiences forged in the fire of real life, not in academic theory.
- Raw: Providing a loving space for "theological temper tantrums," validating your broken heart, anger, and confusion, and modeling how to bring these emotions directly to the Father without editing the pain.
- Reverent: Modeling the marriage of raw and reverent in the ultimate prayer of maturity and humility—"Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done"— revealing that true reverence is confidence in God's love and wisdom.