Featured Artist: Meredith Andrews
Meredith Andrews has always had a gift for writing honest, compelling songs that resonate powerfully with an audience. Over the course of her first two Word albums, people have come to appreciate the Dove Award-winning artist’s love for God and her heart for people. She’s formed a strong bond with her audience, and yet as open and vulnerable as Andrews has been before, the true heart of this gifted artist is best revealed on her project Worth it All.
“I never felt like I could write corporate worship songs, but that’s what I always wanted to do because I am a worship leader,” Andrews states. “So I just started asking the Lord for songs and I was like, ‘God I don’t just want songs to fill a record. I want to hear from heaven. I want to write your heart’ and I was just overwhelmed with the way the Lord answered and the songs that are on this record. This album, I feel, is the most authentic to who I am. I can’t believe the songs that we have and the way that God met us at every turn and the moments that we captured on this record.”
Worth it All is a potent collection of songs that celebrate God’s sovereignty and share Andrews’ deep and unwavering faith. Listeners have already embraced the lead single “Not for a Moment.” Penned by Andrews, her husband Jacob Sooter and Mia Fieldes, the gorgeous ballad features a heart-stirring vocal performance. “I always feel like every record, God gives me a song about the fact that he’s not going to leave us,” Andrews says. “With my first record it was ‘You’re Not Alone.’ On the second record it was ‘Can Anybody Hear Me?’ and on this one it is ‘Not For A Moment.’ “When you watch the news and see all the stuff that’s happening in the world, a lot of it is really tragic,” Andrews continues.
Worth it All begins with the exuberant “Open Up the Heavens.” “It’s one that we at our church open up the service with and just go ‘God have your way. Do what you want to do here and show us your glory,’” says Andrews, who leads worship at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago. “My pastor, James MacDonald, did a sermon series within the last year talking about the glory of God and how we were made for that. Sometimes we just get distracted when really it’s about seeking the Lord, seeing the arms of the Lord and then running after Him and wanting more of Him and His glory. ‘Lord show us your glory’ was a big theme in our church and it was a prayer in my own heart as well.”
The album also includes reminders of God’s majesty and grace in songs like “Your Kingdom Reigns,” a powerful anthem that opens a door to the throne room as Andrews sings “’You are our portion, our promise forever Your Kingdom reigns.’ When you get to the bridge, that’s my favorite part. It’s like that fist pump moment,” Andrews says with a smile. One of the most personal songs on the album is the closing number “Pieces.” “We set out to do a worship record and songs one through 10 fall into that category, but ‘Pieces’ isn’t. It’s horizontal,” Meredith says of track.
“I wrote this song with Ben Glover. He and I both have adopted brothers. I have three and he has one. I started telling him about one of my brothers who has just really been through a hard time. He’s in high school, navigating those waters and trying to figure out who he is. I’ve been watching him and other kids in high school just trying to figure out who they are and striving so hard for acceptance. They’ll do anything to get it, but inside they are really hurting and confused and that’s how I felt. Ben and I just talked for a long time and this song came out. It’s got substance to it. It’s a challenge. It’s saying, ‘God can take your life and put it back together. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been and what you’ve done, so give him your wounds and your bruised and broken pieces, all your questions and all your secrets. You don’t have to hide who you are.’”
Andrews is a frequent speaker at girls’ conferences and she’s excited about sharing “Pieces.” “I feel like this is what I want to say to them: ‘You are loved and special and God has a purpose for your life. You can hand over your broken pieces to Him. God can take anything broken and make it beautiful.’ When we got to the end of the record, I’d written ‘Pieces,’ but I wasn’t going to record it. We almost didn’t record it. We literally had one more day in the studio and I looked at my manager and said ‘I know that it’s not a worship song, but I feel like it has to go on my record. I want to sing it and I want people to hear it.’ We all talked about it and discussed where it would fit because I feel like the first 10 songs are a journey hopefully into God’s heart, like getting a glimpse of truth, like who He is and ‘Pieces’ is its own other thing. It’s separate. I’m not even going to try to pretend it’s a worship song or where it fits in there because that’s why we made it a bonus track.”
She cites “The Gospel Changes Everything” as her favorite song on the record. “It was a beautiful spring day and Benji Cowart, Paul Mabry and I and sat outside of Paul’s house just chillin’ in his backyard,” Andrew recalls. “We started telling stories about how we had seen just the purity of the gospel, the truth of the gospel transform people’s lives. Paul was telling the story about how this guy came up to him and said, ‘There’s something different about you’ and Paul was like, ‘It’s Jesus. That’s what it is. That’s the difference.’ The guy showed up in church and gave his life to the Lord. We were just telling story after story. The truth and the beauty of the gospel is enough. It doesn’t need any additions or subtractions. It just needs to be told as it is. The gospel changes everything. It is the turning point in history. Even now it’s changing me from who I was. When I sing it, I cry because it’s the simple truth and that’s all you need. It changes you forever. So that’s my favorite song.” “Start with Me” is a prayer to be used for God’s kingdom. “It’s saying, ‘Lord if you’re going to move again, would you do it in me first?’” Andrews explains. “We can always say, ‘Well that needs to always change’ and we can point fingers. We need to ask ‘Lord change me first. Start with me here and let it just kind of flow out. Use my life and help me to love people that you put in my path the way that you love them.’”
Her love for people and servant’s heart are rooted in her childhood. A native of Wilson, NC, Meredith’s parents took in many foster children and adopted three boys who became her beloved brothers. Music was always an integral part of the Andrews home and little Meredith began singing in church at age six. While majoring in family and child development at Liberty University, Andrews felt God calling her into music ministry. After school, she relocated to Chicago and began leading worship at Harvest Bible Chapel. Her incredible vocal gift and intuitive songwriting abilities caught the attention of Word Record executives who signed her to a deal. Her label debut, The Invitation, released in April 2009 and the stirring single “You’re Not Alone” helped propel Andrews into the national spotlight. Her sophomore album, As Long As it Takes, bowed in March 2010 and the following spring, it was named “Worship Album of the Year” at the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards. “How Great is the Love” earned the Dove Award for “Worship Song of the Year.”
While such affirmation from her peers is appreciated, Andrews’ focus remains on her growing family, serving her church and creating music that lifts the body of Christ to a closer relationship with the Lord. “I was at home giving my kid a bath and getting ready to go to church for Good Friday rehearsal, I did not expect that at all,” she says of winning the Doves. Meredith and Jacob have one son, Maverick, and another baby on the way, yet she found time to contribute songs to Harvest Bible’s Live Worship From Vertical Church and participated on the tour with her fellow worship leaders. Balancing music and family can sometimes be a challenge, yet motherhood has impacted her art in unexpected ways. “I was always a people pleaser and I feel like now that I’m a mom, I’m not anymore. I’m just over it,” she says with a smile.
“I’m not trying to please anybody. I just want to please the Lord and love people.” “I know my relationship with the Lord has changed since I had Maverick,” she continues. “If he’s throwing food at me or laughing and talking to me, my love for him doesn’t change. How much greater is God’s love for us? It’s not based on our performance. God doesn’t love us more on our good days and less on our bad and that was revolutionary for me. There’s freedom in knowing that God just loves me and that’s changed me. I’m so overwhelmed by the way the Lord loves me and it’s come out in the way that I’ve written these songs. When I think of other moms listening to these songs, I just hope that whether they are at home with their kids or in the car driving to soccer practice or whatever that even just for three minutes, they can sense the presence of the Lord and God’s love for them. We need that recharge. We need to get plugged into the source and have that time with the Lord. That’s my prayer in all this.”
Meredith released her fourth worship album, Deeper, in February 2016. The Dove Award-winning artist has been using her musical gifts, love for God, and her huge heart for His people to teach and remind us all about the enormity of our awesome and loving Savior. Andrews, who is also on staff at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, focuses on creating music that lifts the body of Christ to a closer relationship with the Lord. Andrews’ new album, Deeper, features the songs “Soar,” “Lamb of God,” “Deeper” and “Spirit of The Living God.”On a regular basis, Andrews leads worship at major women’s and worship leader conferences across the U.S., and has toured with Matt Maher, Natalie Grant, Big Daddy Weave, Vertical Church, Phil Wickham, and Michael W. Smith, among others.
