Phil Joel Says Goodbye to the Newsboys

After more than a decade with The Newsboys, bassist Phil Joel has left the band.

According to the band's website, he made the decision in order "to devote more time to family and personal goals."

The Newsboys will be embarking on their "GO" tour without Joel beginning February 15 in Detroit and there are no plans to replace him. Instead, they will continue as a 4-piece band with guitarist and background vocalist Paul Colman and keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein sharing the duties left by Joel.

This isn't the first time The Newsboys have had to deal with losing a member.

Since the band released its first album, "Hell is For Wimps," in 1988, the band has had a series of changes, including six different guitarists, four bass guitarists, and two keyboardists. Drummer Peter Furler took over as frontman when original vocalist John James left in 1997.

To this day Furler is the only original member left in the band.

Though the band has had its share of changes, that hasn't stopped them from becoming one of the most successful and renowned bands in the world of Christian music, recording 15 albums and earning four Grammy Award nominations and numerous Dove Awards (the Christian version of the Grammy).

Joel joined The Newsboys as a bassist in 1995 and also sang background as well as occasional lead vocals.

In 2000 he released his first solo album, "Watching Over You" and in 2002 he released his second solo album entitled "Bring It On."

Phil and his wife Heather founded a Christian ministry called deliberatePeople in 2005.

Joel told Infuze Magazine that the ministry came about after he and his wife had an awakening of sorts.

"My wife and I woke up together one day with an epiphany about our faith and realized that it wasn't really working. It was a whole bunch of knowledge. There was a lot of church-going or churchianity. We read a lot of Christian books, knew a lot about God, but just didn't know him that well."

It was that epiphany that drove Phil and Heather to pursue a more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ.

"We were determined to get up each morning and seek God. We were real deliberate in seeking God," says Joel. "Relationships don't just happen and our relationship with God is just the same. We have to be proactive with it."

In conjunction with the ministry, Joel released his third solo album, aptly entitled "The deliberatePeople."

Phil and Heather Joel have been married since 1996 and they have two children: six-year-old Phynley Elizabeth and two-year-old Philip Eden.

Joel's last day as a Newsboy was December 31, 2006.