VICTOR: CeCe, as always, it’s great to have you back on Turning Point. CECE: Great to see you, good to be here. 
VICTOR: What’s been happening with you? CECE: (LAUGHS) A lot’s been happening. Well, I’ve been to South Africa since I’ve seen you last. 
VICTOR: Now, we did talk about that the last time, and I’m proud to hear that, but Nigeria is next I gather. CECE: Yes, yes. I’m going there soon. 
VICTOR: You know I’m passionate about Nigeria. CECE: You know, I’m passionate about all of Africa. I haven’t been to all of Africa, it’s so huge. But the people, I just love them, I love them. So I’m excited about going to every part. 
VICTOR: Amen, amen. CECE: Eventually I’ll make it. (LAUGHS) 
VICTOR: Now, we were in Nashville recently and we heard you have this huge conference called— CECE: yes, “Always Sisters Conference.” 
VICTOR: Always Sisters. CECE: Yes. 
VICTOR: It’s the third annual conference. CECE: Our third one this year. 
VICTOR: What’s it all about? CECE: You know, we have a lot of girls come in, and we teach them God’s way. We teach them how to live holy. We teach them how they can look nice, and they don’t have to show every body part that they have. 
VICTOR: Now this is a conference for young girls and women. CECE: Yes, young ladies, from ages 13 all the way to 26. And, you know, when you think of that, it’s like, wow, that’s a big span, you know. But a lot of our kids, unfortunately, are experiencing a lot of things the young women are experiencing. 
VICTOR: What was the turnout like this year? CECE: This year we had about 3,000. 
VICTOR: Three thousand. CECE: Yes, our first year we had like 700. Last year we had about 22 to 2300. And this year we had close to 3,000. 
VICTOR: What are the critical issues that the young girls and the young women coming to this conference –what are the issues that they are dealing with? CECE: So many issues. One of our main altar calls this year was for homosexuality. Our young girls are dealing with their sexual identity. 
VICTOR: Yes CECE: And to see those girls at the altar crying out for deliverance. Oooh, I could praise God right now just thinking about it. Because the power of God came in, and it wasn’t about the spirit of shame, but these kids wanted to be delivered, and they were delivered. They were set free. 
VICTOR: Amen. CECE: And so, we have fun, we have a fashion show, you know. We laugh, we have a talent show. But I told them this year, you know, it’s not about y’all having fun, but we have to impart the Word of God into you. We have to impart the Holy Spirit. 
VICTOR: Yes CECE: Because that’s the only thing that’s going to keep you. You know, and so they left on fire for God. It was a life-changing experience. 
VICTOR: Why you call it Always Sisters? CECE: Why? Well, you know, it’s a mentoring program. And sisterhood is very important. You know we need each other. And for so long women have had a bad rap of never getting along– but when we come together, when women come together and pray, it’s a powerful thing. 
VICTOR: It is. CECE: You know to have a sister means you have another young lady praying for you, who covers you. They are not stabbing you in the back, but they are rejoicing when great things happen for you. They are sad when you experience sadness. And it’s a connection that God has ordained. And for me, if it wasn’t for the women in my life, older women- my mom of course- but different women in my life that took out time to impart in me as I came along, I wouldn’t be the strong woman that I am today.
VICTOR: One of the things I really appreciate about you CeCe, is your consistency. There are so many artists out there who started really well – and then just flamed out, either on account of their lifestyle, just things that they’ve gotten into. And you’re really a light out there, and I just want to encourage you. CECE: Praise God.
VICTOR: And just to say thank you for being consistent. Now your theme this year, what was the theme of the conference? CECE: The prayer – the power of a praying princess. 
VICTOR: The power of a praying princess. CECE: Yes, yes. 
VICTOR: Why that title? CECE: (LAUGHS) Well, first of all, every year we give them tiaras. Because we realize that if they don’t know who they are and whose they are, then they will believe anything. So they have to be reminded that they are daughters of the King.
VICTOR: Amen. CECE: And they are royal priesthood. You know, so we give tiaras, and when you realize that and you start living a different way. You realize that a princess is not, is not trained to fit in. You’re not supposed to fit in. And most of our lives as women, we cry, we go through all these different times of struggle because we want to fit in with everybody else, especially the girls that are in school. 
VICTOR: Now in addition to the conference, you’ve also put together a devotional book. CECE: Yes.
VICTOR: Also called – CECE: Always Sisters. 
VICTOR: Always Sisters. My daughter and I, who is in the studio right now, she’s 15 years old. CECE: Beautiful. 
VICTOR: We are reading the book together, and one of the chapters is titled, Don’t Marry the Devil. CECE: Don’t Date the Devil. 
VICTOR: Don’t Date the Devil, no matter how fine he looks. CECE: He is. (LAUGHS) See, you got to say it like a sister would say it. 
VICTOR: That’s the word. CECE: Don’t date the devil, no matter how fine he is. 
VICTOR: Tell us about that. CECE: Well, you know in the book, as well as the conference, we like to deal with topics that our kids are going through. You know. And dating is always what you would call a hot topic. (LAUGHS) 
VICTOR: Yes. CECE: But, again, you have to be led of the Lord. You have to pray about who should be your boyfriend, or should you have a boyfriend, or your husband, your mate. These are the things that the Devil uses to open up doors and to come into our kids’ life, and before you know it your kids are out there hanging out with the wrong people, or your daughters are coming up pregnant. The thing is, if you just live for the Lord and you realize the value of your body, of your life, and that you deserve the best, and that God will bring you a man, who loves God more than he loves you. 
VICTOR: Amen. CECE: You know, and when you wait on that, and realize the blessing in waiting, and remaining a virgin. You know, because the world has our kids feeling ashamed because their virgins. 
VICTOR: That’s right. CECE: And it’s like, enough is enough. No, that’s the thing you’re supposed to strive for. 
VICTOR: Speak, speak the word. CECE: You know, and be excited about it. And so that’s what we’re trying to teach them in this book because it’s not about just blessing them for a weekend. But we want to them to continue to walk with the Lord and to apply the principles of God daily, so that they’ll come out and then next year we’ll see them, they’ll be stronger than what they were before. 
VICTOR: You got a theme for next year? CECE: I don’t have a theme yet. I’m thinking about –
VICTOR: It will come. CECE: It will come. Not yet. 
VICTOR: Okay. Now you’ve been a singer for many, many years. CECE: Yes.
VICTOR: Won almost every award there is out there. If anybody had told you that you would one day become a speaker, as you have at these conferences, would you have believed that? CECE: I would have ran. (LAUGHS) 
VICTOR: Really? So what prepared you for this? CECE: You know, I look back and I just see the Lord just – He prepared me. He prepared me in all the arenas that he had me to go into. And I would go in to sing, but knowing that the Word of God is in me, because that’s the only thing that has kept me all these years. 
VICTOR: Amen. CECE: And it started a few years back, people started to ask me to come and speak. And really – I thought at first they made a mistake. It’s like, no, I’m the one that sings. 
VICTOR: (LAUGHS) CECE: (LAUGHS) I don’t speak, what are you talking about?. 
“No, we want you to speak. We realize that your lifestyle, you have to have something to say. Tell us how do you keep in charge – how do you keep yourself in the right place. You know, how do you keep yourself focused on living right for the Lord, and how have you not strayed away?”
VICTOR: Umm. CECE: So they wanted to hear what I had to say. 
VICTOR: Yeah. CECE: You know, and at the same time I’m like, “Lord, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this.” But then I got a call one day and somebody wanted me to speak for this—really it was a secular arena. And they asked me to speak and I was like, “Well, no.” And the lady just said, “Wait a minute, you have to. You have to speak to these kids. You have to. “And so it was like the Holy Spirit was like, “Okay, it’s time.”
VICTOR: Hmm. CECE: And I said, “Okay.” You know. And who He’s called, He’ll equip. And I think a lot of times we sit back and think, you know, if I don’t speak like this one, then I can’t speak. Or if I don’t have this style, or if I don’t have this gift of being eloquent, you know, and saying all the right things at the right time, but God just wants you to speak your heart. 
VICTOR: And He wants you to be you. CECE: Who you are, right, right. 
VICTOR: Amen. Now last year, just a few months before your brother, your older brother Ronald died. CECE: Yes. 
VICTOR: He visited with us here on Turning Point, and his death was really was a huge shock to us, and I’m sure to many people around the world. CECE: Yes. 
VICTOR: Did his passing give you a new perspective on life and did it in any way just make you realize how short life was? CECE: Yes, it did. I told him even after his homegoing that the first time he passed and the Lord brought him back showed me how powerful God is, you know, in a way that I had never experienced before. 
VICTOR: Hmm.. CECE: So it changed my life that time. This time when he passed, and he went on to be with the Lord, it changed my life again, because my mind like it shifted to Heaven. It shifted that, like you said, it could be so close. It’s so close that daily we have to live looking up, you know. We have to live every day like it’s our last. Because if you would have told me last year that I would lose my brother, my brother wouldn’t be here. I would say, “Oh, yeah, right, Victor, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” because he’s there all the time.
And so when he left, it was a painful thing, but again God showed Himself faithful, you know, because He left here praising God. He left here with a smile on his face. And so, you know, if anything he’s doing much better than what we’re doing. (LAUGHS) 
VICTOR: I know. CECE: But yes, it changed my life. It changed my life, and it put my life into another gear. Not only to make sure that I’m ready, and those who I love, but to go out and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
VICTOR: Cece, keep on doing the good work that you’re doing. CECE: Thank you. 
VICTOR: And we look forward to having you back again in the not too distant future.