By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer
Northborough – For the 150-plus teens who have attended the Chapel of the Cross Youth Group over the past 2 1/2 years, Northborough resident Andy Needham is known as an enthusiastic preacher and worship leader. As director of Student Ministries, Needham has positively impacted the lives of local teens. A gifted vocalist and guitar player, Needham has a passion for music and has used his talent as a vehicle to worship God and draw people to him. Before joining Westborough-based Chapel of the Cross in 2008, Needham was director of Youth Ministries at the Monadnock Bible Conference in Jaffrey, N.H. In addition, he was lead singer in the Arise Worship Band. When he left Monadnock to work at Chapel, his band was renamed the Andy Needham Band.
The Andy Needham Band is a four-piece group with front man Needham, guitarist Joel Rousseau, bass player Jonathan Mason and drummer Andrew Picha. Each brings a different strength to the mix but together they work to create music that they hope “will awaken hearts to Jesus.”
Bringing contemporary worship music to churches, camps, colleges and music festivals, the goal of the band, Needham said, is to “lead people in worship so it's about being Christ-centered and corporate: “Christ-centered” meaning that the words in the songs are really important to us, that they are about God, who he is, his character and his nature. And “corporate,” meaning that we want people to sing along with us. People need to be able to step into the songs and be a part of what is going on.”
With the growing interest in the band and his desire to reach people through music, Needham made the decision to resign as director of Student Ministries at Chapel of the Cross and pursue music full time. His wife, Bethany, stepped into his former role and is the newly appointed director.
When performing, the Andy Needham Band plays a mixture of original songs, as well as a handful of pieces that the audience already knows. Original songs are written by the whole group, with each band member contributing various elements. According to Needham, he is the idea person, Rousseau writes the arrangements, Mason is the theologian and Picha focuses on the production side.
People throughout the world sing songs that Needham has penned and the band performs.
“The way this happened is through the high school students who we have led in worship over the years,” Needham said. “These students have gone on to college or mission trips and brought the songs with them.”
Needham was excited to share that, for example, the largest Catholic youth conference in America, held in Steubenville, Mo., sang the band's song “Lifted High.”
Needham compares working full time with the band to a start-up business in that they are currently trying to figure out where the market is and where they need to go. They have some capital in the bank, which they will invest in recording. And, as they work toward building their fan base, the musicians are investing a great deal of time rehearsing, writing and performing. At this point, because the band members are earning meager wages, each has a supplemental income to help pay their bills.
In addition to concert dates, The Andy Needham Band has participated in youth workers conferences at Berea in Hebron, N.H. and next year, they will participate in their first worship conference in New England. Their “Simply Jesus Tour,” an evening of God-focused acoustic worship continues to be performed in smaller churches and other venues.
The Andy Needham Band members are currently in negotiations with a Grammy-winning producer in Nashville. They will be heading there in January to record a handful of songs, and will be performing on their way down, as well as on their way back home. From the recording, comes the ability to reach people outside of New England, to move beyond those church members and people who already know the band.
The Andy Needham Band will be performing their “Simply Christmas Tour” locally Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Fort Square Presbyterian Church in Quincy and Friday, Dec. 30 at The Mill Cafe in Millbury. Currently, they have 60 tour dates scheduled, most of which are in New England.
For more information on The Andy Needham Band and to listen to a sampling of their music visit their website www.andyneedham.net. They also have songs available on iTunes.
You can listen to a sample of their music here –
Untitled from sue wambolt on Vimeo.