What's new with Meredith Andrews? 

This is kind of unrelated to the record, and it's just funny timing. I'm actually due with our second any day. So I'm waiting on whenever he decides to show up!

Have you settled on a name?
Our first son's name is Maverick, and with a name like that you can't exactly go with a Jeff or Bob. So we're going to name him Remington and call him Remy.

How does it differ from previous releases?

Obviously I'm the same person so there's going to be some commonalities there. But this record was intentionally different. I wanted it to be more of a "worship" album where I focus on writing songs for the Church to sing. Songs that you could easily see the words on the screen and sing it back to the Lord. That's what I was going for so it's definitely a departure from my first two records.

When I first started thinking through the record I thought, well, I've been a worship leader at a church for years now so this makes the most sense and what I really want to be doing. But I didn't think I was really great at writing songs for the Church. It didn't come very naturally to me. So I started asking the Lord for songs and getting in the room with people who are very gifted at writing songs for the Church. I just learned so much from those people.

How did you get into ministry via music?
I started singing when I was really little and grew up in a small church in North Carolina. I started leading worship for my youth group when I was in high school. That kind of morphed into me going to Liberty University and there I also led worship and was offered a position up here at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago to lead worship.

I remember when I was in high school having this moment with the Lord where I was just like, "God I don't know what you want me to do with the gifts you've given me but they're yours. I surrender them to you. I don't know what it's going to look like, but you do."

And I felt like at the time that God was saying to me "be faithful where I place you." At the time I was just leading worship for my youth group and kind of writing songs on my own. The Lord has definitely been faithful to teach me how to grow where my plan is. The Lord has opened the door.

What are some of your biggest musical influences? Any secular music make it on the iPod?
I think it's good to have a wide variety and not to limit yourself, especially when gaining things musically from mainstream artists. I grew up listening to Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and Amy Grant but also listening to a lot of Christian records as well. In terms of leading worship, Rita Springer, Darlene Zschech, Matt Redman. On a mainstream level I love Adele. I think Taylor Swift is an amazing songwriter. The way she says things is so plain, so real, and so vivid, she just paints pictures. I think it's good to have a balance so you don't pigeonhole yourself.

Are you touring right now?
After we have this baby we'll get back on the road. I've taken a few weeks off in February mostly. Middle of March we'll start doing some dates. Most of them are conferences and singing at churches, things like that. The Spring and the Fall are shaping up to be pretty busy. I'm really excited to get back out there, especially with these new songs. 

Read our review of Meredith Andrews' Worth It All here.
See Meredith Andrews' photos here 
Meredith Andrews "Worth it All" Full Lyrics and Story Behind the Song [Video]

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