I am a youth minister, ordained by the Riverside Church in upper New York. But to declare myself a minister and begin to preach from the pulpit, from the Bible, to a congregation and to build a church, so to speak - I don't have a desire for that.

When I was about 15 years old, I began to embark on an MC career but also to study philosophy with an emphasis on theology.

In one sense, I wanted to study philosophy and theology, getting into the history of the Bible. I went through that for, like, two years while I took a desk job at Warners. It was very depressing but exhilarating at the same time.

For me, I see myself as a role model because, everything I do, there is a person somewhere who needs to hear me spread a message of non-violent conflict resolution.

Cherish believes that God made her with a special purpose. Like any teenage girl, she has her insecurities, but for the most part she has a real healthy self-esteem.

My parents never forced things on my brother and me: not our faith, not our sports, not our friends. Yet they taught us about surrounding ourselves with the right people: the kind of people we want to be.

The same group of New York pseudo-intellectuals who've put down prayer are the same ones who put down L.A.

Prayer is more than meditation. In meditation, the source of strength is one's self. When one prays, he goes to a source of strength greater than his own.