Toledo, U.S.A. — Long-time street preacher and former convict Rev. “Slim” Lake is expanding into the holy ground of publishing. On July 1, 2012, the minister will release his first book, The Now Testament: Featuring the New Gospel, which he calls the “third testament of the Christian bible.”

Written during a six-year prison term at Allen County Correctional Institution, The Now Testament is a semi-autobiographical story that guides readers through translated Old and New Testament scriptures to an understanding of the Bible’s relevance today. The book blends powerful storytelling with raw evangelism.

“I was inspired by God to write The Now Testament as a way to reach young people and street people in my hometown and around the world,” says Rev. Slim. “It speaks to them using non-traditional words, not normally accepted in religious teaching. When in Rome, you must speak as the Romans speak.”

Convicted of illegal fundraising to match the needs of a poverty-stricken community’s people, Rev. Slim – who ran Toledo’s longest independently operated free Sunday meal program – was released in 2010. Since returning home, he has diligently worked to edit and self-publish The Now Testament, with the goal of having it recognized as the third testament of the holy Bible throughout the world; inviting “haters from all denominations to test the purity of God’s holy word.”

Though he has been one of Toledo’s most controversial figures, due to his criminal record and past drug addiction, Rev. Slim is also widely acknowledged as a champion for the young, struggling and people of weakened faith. Even the judge who sentenced him to his last prison term described Rev. Slim as “a pillar of his community,” in explaining the decision to let the preacher remain free until sentencing.

Rev. Slim reminds readers who question his background that even the more notable figures of the Old and New Testaments had tainted pasts: “If you read the Bible, you know that Moses committed murder, Noah got drunk, and Paul terrorized followers of Christ before he was inspired to write the majority of the New Testament. The Now Testament simply states that the young are chosen to lead God’s army in now time.”

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