Worship leader to sing songs from new CD

Ben Thomas of Plainfield will tell you that in his wildest imagination he would've never expected to write, record and release a new CD in the past few weeks.

Wheatland Salem Church's worship leader in Naperville has released "The Bewildering Light: Faces at the Manger" with five original compositions. He'll play his newest work at a concert at 7 p.m. today at St. Raphael Catholic Church, 1215 Modaff Road, Naperville.

Thomas gained his inspiration for the CD as he learned about plans for a sermon series that would lead up to Christmas.

"I was meeting with the leadership team about our Faces at the Manger sermon series, which involves taking apart the lives of the people who witnessed Jesus' birth," Thomas said. "I wondered if I could write a song for each of them."

Typically, Thomas finds songwriting to be intimidating, but for this project he wrote all five compositions within a week. He admits that he works better under pressure.

"Each song attempts to dive into the personal lives of these characters, how their lives were turned upside down by the wonderful but bewildering news brought to them by angels," he said.

Examples of the songs include a piece about Joseph titled "Stick With You," and another called "Shepherds and Angels." Thomas also produced fresh arrangements of five other Christmas songs and then recorded the CD at Wheatland Salem Church over a six-day period.

He calls it a "straight-forward acoustic record." He said his music is spiritually based but never "heavy-handed" in tone and message.

Thomas added that he was also pleased to be able to use artwork for the CD from Peter Griffith of Naperville.

His CD will be available at the St. Raphael concert and also through his Web site, www.benthomasonline.com. Next year, he plans to put his efforts into a wider national release.

Thomas has been involved in ministry at Wheatland Salem Church since 2000, originally working with youth at the church. More recently, he made the transition to worship ministry and leadership.

Thomas' music is also performed at 9 and 10:30 a.m. services Sunday at Wheatland Salem Church, 1852 95th St., Naperville.

For concert details, call St. Raphael's at (630) 355-4545.

For more information about Wheatland Salem Church, visit www.wheatlandsalem.org or call (630) 904-1035.

If you go

What: Ben Thomas performs songs from his new CD, "The Bewildering Light: Faces at the Manger"

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: St. Raphael Catholic Church, 1215 Modaff Road, Naperville.

Cost: Freewill donation for scholarship fund

Call: (630) 355-4545