WATCH: Early video of Zim protest pastor shows him 'dreaming big'

Harare - An early YouTube video of freed Zimbabwe protest pastor Evan Mawarire shows him dreaming big - literally. "The desire to succeed is an advantage in everything I do," Mawarire, who is now 39, says on the nine-minute video, which was uploaded to YouTube by JunctionTV in 2009.

 "My purpose as an individual is something I'm learning to discover," he adds as he introduces his first book titled, "Dream Big and Make It Happen". Many will now see that title as prophetic. Mawarire, a father of two and pastor of the New Generation Church in Harare, had charges of trying to overthrow the government of President Robert Mugabe dropped against him on Wednesday in a ruling welcomed by supporters in and outside Zimbabwe.

In April he began what turned into the #ThisFlag protest movement. He posted videos to Facebook and other social media platforms speaking of Zimbabweans' frustrations with widespread poverty and government corruption.

He was arrested on Tuesday following a nationwide shutdown last week. In the video, Mawarire - who was already a pastor then with his wife Samantha - talks of traveling to Zimbabwe's Kariba tourist resort and sitting by the impressive dam wall there to think of the reasons of why he should "dream big". "I'm an encourager. I love to motivate people," he says.