Three weeks – we're counting down! It's all systems go in the office as we prepare for the CSW National Conference on 10 November, but we managed to squeeze in a chat with David Shosanya, who'll be leading prayers on the day. Turns out, he's even busier than we are!

He's a Regional Minister of the London Baptist Association, and oversees over 200 Baptist churches in the UK. He co-founded the Street Pastors movement, hosts the Symposium for the State of Black Britain, and has worked with the Government on faith and crime issues. Last year David travelled to Egypt with CSW, and since that time he's had a passion for speaking out for persecuted Christians like those he met on his visit.

Googling you makes for interesting reading! You sound more like a policy-maker than a minister. How do you hold together all your interests and passions?

A well known theologian said that Christians should negotiate the tension between present reality and future possibility. That, in my view, requires us to be in places where decisions are being made and seeking to influence those decisions. My view is that the gospel has as much to say about transforming societies as it does about transforming individuals. Societies are transformed through policy. It therefore seems like a reasonable place to be if one wants to see transformation.

In September 2011 you accompanied CSW staff on a fact finding visit to Egypt – what effect did that trip have on your faith and also on your work?

My first reaction was shock: I had heard stories of persecution and even had passing interaction with one or two persecuted Christians in the UK. However to meet persecuted Christians, to have sustained contact with them, and to be present in the environment in which they lived out their faith, and to sense their - and our - vulnerability, was disturbing. It has made me more determined to stand in solidarity with my persecuted sisters and brothers in Christ and to awaken the churches I serve and minister in to own the burden of the persecuted church.

You will be leading prayer at CSW's Conference – what is the most significant thing you have learned, from experience, about prayer?

The most important lesson I have learnt about prayer is that you keep going despite the feeling and the 'evidence' of circumstances. Prayer requires an altogether different capacity to see that is rooted in an inward revelation and conviction about who God is. The final word is always God's even when it doesn't look like it!

Do you think that Christians who are persecuted for their faith might experience a different degree of prayer life, because of their circumstances?

Absolutely! Visiting persecuted Christians in Egypt made me realise how so much more reliant they are on God and how real He is to them. Prayer was a foundational activity - the thing upon which everything else was built: a first port of call and not a peripheral activity that they engaged in occasionally.

Join us at the CSW National Conference 2012

David will be leading our prayers at the Conference. You'll also hear the latest news from the frontlines of fighting religious persecution, be inspired by uplifting worship led by Dave Bilbrough, and encouraged by moving testimonies.

Join us at CSW National Conference 2012

You'll hear the latest news from the frontlines of fighting religious persecution, be inspired by uplifting worship, and encouraged by moving testimonies.

Book your ticket

Click here to book online or call 0845 456 5464. Bring friends to save: buy four or more tickets, and you'll get each ticket for £7.

Don't miss out – the CSW National Conference on 10 November promises to be truly exceptional.