Ex-Pentecostal Pastor Jerry Dewitt released a new book this month about how he lost his faith and found hope in atheism two years ago.

Jerry DeWitt, a public speaker and leader in the American atheism movement, released his first book on June 25 titled Hope after Faith: An Ex-Pastor's Journey from Belief to Atheism.

Dewitt is a former pastor of two evangelical churches, who publicly converted to atheism in 2011 after 25 years of Christian ministry.

It was a late night in May of that year that a member of Dewitt’s church in DeRidder, Louisiana, called seeking prayer for her brother who had been in a serious accident. DeWitt searched for the right words to console her but he couldn’t find them. It was in that moment, he found that the faith that served to guide his life had finally crumbled to dust.

When DeWitt came out publicly as an atheist, he was shunned by much of DeRidder’s highly religious community, losing nearly everything he’d known.

"Even though I'm now no longer a believer in the divine or supernatural, I am still very much a believer in Hope, Love and Individualism,” wrote Dewitt in a self-penned Huffington Post column. "[This] is why I have traveled the country over the last year preaching a secular message based on humanist values.”

Dewitt also still believes in the benefits of community and fellowship.

According to CNN.com, he is using his pastoral experience to building an atheist church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On Sunday, June 23, DeWitt's congregation held its first meeting as a "Community Mission Chapel."

"When you become a part of this congregation, this community, you are going to become part of a family," DeWitt told CNN. "There is an infrastructure there for you to land in. There is going to be someone there to do weddings and to do, unfortunately, the funerals."