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Soon, the sisters realized the church showed favoritism towards celebrities. "Yeah, you had special parking spots," Tia laments. "Some people got offended when they'd let that basketball player in [a special parking spot] and they'd been going to this church a lot longer." The sisters became uncomfortable with the lack of equality. "Jesus Christ wants everybody to see that whether you're rich or poor, a doctor or a janitor, God sees us all the same and looks at our heart," says Tia.

The parking situation was not all. The famous twins used to be escorted to the front for special seats. "My sister and I are not really that type of people. We don't see ourselves as celebrities," Tia insists. Still, she says, it wasn't just the church staff: "One time, I had my hands lifted up. I was crying and praising God, and then someone touched me on my left side and said, 'Can I have your autograph?' That was extremely odd—how someone could forget where you are."

Tamera says that although church is for fellowship, it's also personal time. "When I praise and worship God, I like to block everything out. To have 50 people stare at you while you're worshiping feels weird."

The sisters do admit that sometimes public figures need special assistance. They remember attending an evangelistic service where a woman walked up to them, pointed a finger in their faces, and accused them of not being women of God. "It was scary," says Tia. "Because you're in the public eye, you're a target. If we didn't have somebody escorting us, it would have been difficult."

In a departure from her sitcom roots, Tamera recently joined the cast of Lifetime TV's hospital drama Strong Medicine, starring Patricia Richardson (formerly of Home Improvement). Tamera plays Kayla Thornton, a second-year resident in emergency medicine at Rittenhouse Hospital.

"I love being on the show," she says. "It gives me a chance to show people that I'm not the same little girl from Sister, Sister, and that I can do drama."

She also enjoys the challenge of being a witness on the set. She says she didn't have to announce that she is a Christian. Her colleagues knew there was something different about her. They labeled it "a different aura."

"We're supposed to be known by our walk with Christ," she says. "You know a person by their fruit."

One day, Tamera was in the makeup room talking to her mother about having to say the word "damn" on the show: "Mom, don't get mad at me. I know I'm a Christian. I have to say it—it's called for."

How did the makeup artist react when he overheard Tamera saying she was a Christian? "He was like, 'Yeah, I knew you were,'" she says, laughing.

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