Call him naive, but Pastor Zhang Mingxuan firmly believes that preaching the word of God can save the mainland from corruption and injustice. But in this David and Goliath confrontation, Mr Zhang lacks even a slingshot as it were and is far from his dream of saving his homeland by converting more people to Christianity.
But the pastor, who used to be a barber and then a businessman, seems willing to do whatever it takes, even if that means taking the authorities to court for unfairly prosecuting the faithful, an act largely unheard of before he set up the China House Church Alliance in 2005.
In the 22 years since he became a Christian, the Henan native has travelled all over the mainland - by train, by bicycle, by foot. He has preached to migrant workers, businessmen, police officers and even long-shot prospects such as Taoist priests.
The targets of his evangelising journey were random, but moving from Henan to Beijing 10 years ago with his wife and two sons was deliberate. However, it cost him his successful businesses that included a beauty parlour, a travel agency and a restaurant in his native Tanghe township.
'I wanted to preach to more officials, the high-level ones. It would be more effective than preaching to the grass roots,' he said. He has yet to convert any senior communist cadres.
Constant crackdowns by the authorities have reduced more than 10 'house churches' he has helped set up over the past decade to only three. House churches are groups that do not register with government agencies and disagree with the officially allowed churches.
