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Tavis: I'm delighted to welcome gospel singer extraordinaire CeCe Winans to the show. The 5-time Grammy winner is out with both a new book and a new CD. I ain't mad at you, CeCe. The book is called "Throne Room: Ushered into the Presence of God." There you see the cover of the book. The CD is simply titled "Throne Room," and is getting great reviews. Nice to see you.

CeCe Winans: Good to see you, too.

Tavis: You been all right?

CeCe: I'm doing great.

Tavis: How are Alvin and the kids? They ain't kids no more, though, huh?

CeCe: I know, I know. They're trying to get grown on me, but they're doing good.

Tavis: What, 18 and 16?

CeCe: 16. Yes.

Tavis: So you ready for this--for your kids to leave?

CeCe: I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I thought I would be ready, but I'm not.

Tavis: You don't want 'em to go. Speaking of kids, how are your mom and them doing?

CeCe: Everybody's great. The whole gang. Everybody.

Tavis: On any given day I'm watching TV, and there are so many of y'all. But I can still catch y'all somewhere. See your mama over here, your daddy on TV here, you over here, Bebe over here.

CeCe: There's enough Winans for everybody.

Tavis: How many again total?

CeCe: 12 of us. Now we have the nieces and nephews.

Tavis: And Mario is just blowing up on the charts.

CeCe: Yes. I didn't even know he had blew up.

Tavis: Mario--that's Marvin's son.

CeCe: Yes. That's my nephew.

Tavis: He's on the charts now with his thing. That's amazing. "Throne Room," the book. "Throne Room," the CD...this is really all about worship. And as much as you've done the worship thing and, you know, your fans have seen you do this worship thing for years, and all the other fine work you've done with Bebe and on your own solo career--but this worship thing, this is the first time you've actually done a CD of all worship music?

CeCe: Yes.

Tavis: And the first time you've actually written a book about what it means to worship.

CeCe: Yes.

Tavis: So, why all of this about worship?

CeCe: Uh...it's an urgency for it.

Tavis: Let me back up, first of all. For those who--I'm assuming that folk know what we mean when we say worship, so let's back this thing up. Explain what worship is, first of all.

CeCe: It's when you take out the time to really meditate on the Father, and you give Him your time, your love, your gratitude. You focus in on Him and those things that are important to Him. And so that's really what worship is.

Tavis: And the value of doing that is what?

CeCe: The value of doing it is that you see how awesome He is, therefore, when you look at the news and everything that's going on, your heart won't fail because of fear. You can rest, no matter what the circumstances look like. You know He's always in control. So that's the value of it.

Tavis: OK, so why this concentration at this point in your life on this notion of worship? I mean, you've always done it, but in the titles of a book and a CD.

CeCe: And really focus it. Because I didn't realize that a lot of people don't know about worship. They don't realize how great of a weapon it is in your everyday life, and how important it is to survive. I've always been a worshipper, so I know that's where my strength comes from. I know that's why I can be in the midst of the storm and smile. I know I can rest and depend on the Father so, therefore--because I know the value of worship. But a lot of people don't know.

Tavis: When you say that worship can be a weapon...I don't want folk to think that this thing is worship--you take it and go Hyah! Hyah! Hyah! You know.

CeCe: No, don't hit nobody. Well, nobody but the devil. You hit the devil.

Tavis: Exactly. You better explain what you mean by that.

CeCe: When I say a weapon...for instance, if you're in your house, when you're going through things with your marriage or your children, when you really begin to worship, it changes the atmosphere...because that brings on the presence of the Father. And so, when you need peace, you know what I'm saying? That's one of your greatest weapons against anything that's going on. You know, when you're at peace within your heart and in your soul, and know that no matter what happens, everything is gonna be all right. That happens when you're a true worshipper.

Tavis: You, I understand, just came off a 25-city big--what we call megachurch. These massive churches. You did a 25-city megachurch tour.

CeCe: Right.

Tavis: Did I read right? You didn't charge money for this?

CeCe: Nothing. It was free.

Tavis: So you're doing that good now. You don't even need that--I was sayin', "CeCe--CeCe's doing all right. She doin' a tour and ain't charging anybody to come in."

CeCe: Well, you know what? Just like the reason why I did the CD, because, really, it's so different from anything before because when you put it on, and it's a lot of slow songs, you know, to get people to slow down and to meditate. To reprioritize so they can see what's really important, what's not important, and really just to eliminate a lot of friction out of your life. That's what worship does. So even--the people around me, you know, when I told them I had to do this CD, it was something that the Lord put on my heart. So I knew it was gonna work.

Tavis: I know Epic wasn't trying--"Worship songs?! Worship songs?!"

CeCe: Everybody was like, "Oh, nobody's going to want this." But during the tour, the altars were full of young kids...of teenagers--and I wasn't expecting that. But everybody needs some peace.

Tavis: They do, yeah.

CeCe: You know, even if they're not believers, they understand peace.

Tavis: I'm glad you said that

because the reason I raised the church--the 25-city church tour is because I wanted to ask you whether you're finding one of these 2 things. Because we live in this post-9/11 world, and everybody--I think fear, for so many people, is palpable. You can feel it. People are afraid. To your part about watching the news, everything is negative.

CeCe: Yes.

Tavis: Oh, my God. I wonder whether you're finding that people are--that more people are turning to the Father, turning to this notion of worship out of that fear, or that more people are questioning of the Father, asking "How could you allow this to happen? How could you have allowed 9/11 to happen?" 'Cause it seems to me it can go either way. Or it can get--

CeCe: I think you 'em both. I think you get 'em both, but I think the majority is turning to the Father for comfort. At the same time, they're looking for understanding, you know. And when you come in--when you get to know the Father, you realize that he is not the author of confusion. But at the same time, if we as humans--we have a free will, and if we choose to do the wrong thing, you know, that's our choice. And then you kind of have to deal with what happens after that because of the choices that we make. But the Father is always there to givelove, to give instructions, but it's up to us if we're gonna listen.

Tavis: To folk who are still in this place, not just because of 9/11, but of course, all of the aftermath. For those folk who, for that reason or any other reason, are still living a life where they are fearful every day, tell me how, through worship, they can calm that fear.

CeCe: Oh, man. First of all they have to accept the Lord Jesus as their personal savior. Because you can't worship unless you know him. That's just the way it is. Then when you start spending time in prayer, in meditation, and just allowing Him to take over your life--you have to put Him first. He's a first-class God. You know, he's the creator of the universe. You can't, like, give Him the time that you have left over, you know, right before you go to sleep at night.

Tavis: Yeah. A couple seconds before I pass out.

CeCe: "Lord, I thank you." Know what I'm sayin'?

Tavis: Thank you for another day. All right.

CeCe: And even in the book I explain how you plan to please God. You know? You have to start putting Him first, and once you begin to spend time in His word--and it's really what you eat is what you become. It's the same thing. If you eat junk all day, that's what you become.But if you put in God's word and His principles and His ways, it teaches you about peace, and how to keep peace in your heart and your home and your family. Everything you need is in that word. Everything you need. I don't care what you're going through. I don't care what background you come from, everything you need is in the word of God. And it's practical. You can apply it to your everyday life. And there are some people, you know, Tavis, that aren't really believers, but they take on some of the principles of the word, and guess what--his principles work for you whether you believe it or not.

Tavis: Do you ever fear, CeCe, that--and I ask this with all respect--I'm interested in your answer here. Do you ever fear that, particularly with this project, that people will find you a bit preachy? You ever worry about that?

CeCe: I never get worried about that. I never get worried about that. I love great music, but for me the message has always been very important. Even those messages that are not preaching Jesus or God, but just preaching love. Pure love. It's real important that people know that pure love really does exist. You know it is the right thing. It's not something that the Father frowns upon. So, no, I don't worry about that. I know who I am. I know my calling, and I don't get that confused. So if they take it preachy, that's OK because I know it's life, you know. Whenever you get good advice, whether you want to take it or not, it's good for you.

Tavis: So, we got the book out, "Throne Room." we got the CD out, "Throne Room," but I know they're asking you for another project. I know the record companies are saying, "All right, CeCe..."

CeCe: You already know.

Tavis: Yeah. I know they're asking for something that is...you know. So, what are you working on?

CeCe: You already know, in the studio as we speak. But I have more of a mainstream-sounding project that is in the works for Sony. For Epic. And so we'll see. We'll see. We were supposed to release it maybe in November, but if not, '05.

Tavis: So you're in the studio now for this.

CeCe: Yes.

Tavis: Have you selected anything that you know for sure is gonna be on the project?

CeCe: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've got a few of 'em that are really, really great.

Tavis: Some stuff you've written?

CeCe: Some of it I did, and some of it I didn't. Good stuff.

Tavis: You like doing stuff...do you prefer--do you like better doing stuff that you've written?

CeCe: Uh, you know, it really doesn't matter.

Tavis: It depends on the--yeah.

CeCe: It depends. Sometimes I can hear a song, and it's so me. You know what I'm saying? I know I can deliver it. Whether I wrote it or not. And then sometimes you can write some things that are not really for you.

Tavis: Have you ever done something that the record company or somebody pushed you--some producer pushed you to do that you really weren't feeling, but you did anyway and then regretted it? "I knew I shouldn't have done that."

CeCe: Yeah, I have done that before. Not often, but I have done that before. You know, it's a nice song, but I didn't really feel it. And you can't deliver it to the people when you don't really feel it.

Tavis: Conversely, anything that you passed on that you wish you had done? Well, you've still got time to do it, I guess.

CeCe: Yeah, I can still sing a little bit. Yeah. No, I don't think there's anything I've passed on. Because most of the time I judge it by if it moves me. If it ministers to me, then I can get it to the people. If it takes me to that place, I can bring the people with me.

Tavis: Your stuff always moves me. You can always take me to that place. Even the "Throne Room." "Throne Room" is the new CD by CeCe Winans. "Throne Room," the book: "Ushered into the Presence of God" is her new book. CeCe, it's always nice to see you.

CeCe: It's great to see you, too.

Tavis: All right. That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR, and I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching. Good night from Los Angeles, and keep the faith.