A newly constructed house in Camrose, Alberta is one of the more unusual ways that caring Canadians have raised funds to support the work and mission of IJM Canada.

Isaiah’s House, as it came to be called, required a builder willing to follow his vision and a church willing to take a risk. Brent Friedrich and his wife Jena, who run a small residential building business in Camrose, "caught a vision" to join in the fight against injustice and to use their own gifts to do it. "We were looking for a way to use our gifts in ministry," explains Brent, “and building houses is our dream and what we are good at." They heard about IJM at a conference and were impressed by IJM's holistic approach: "IJM doesn't just rescue young girls. They prosecute the offenders, they care for the girl when she is released and then they work to improve the justice system in the country. To just rescue the girls wouldn't solve the problem. IJM just seems to go into the heart of it."

Brent and Jena approached their church in Camrose, Solid Rock Free Lutheran Church, to see if it would partner with them to buy a plot of land, build a house and then sell it, with any profits going to IJM. "The idea incubated in our church, and went through all the stages of approval," explains Brent.  Solid Rock was fully on board with the project and agreed to finance construction.

Brent confesses, "One of the bigger question marks for us was the economy. The timing for this vision came at an inopportune moment. It felt like Noah's Ark, God was calling us to build this house."  To everyone’s surprise, the house sold a mere two weeks after being on the market, during a time in the Canadian economy when real estate was not doing well across the country.

Brent was also able to tap into the generousity of local trades people, some of whom donated their time and supplies to help the project be even more profitable. Many of the trades people and businesses approached by Brent had never heard of IJM and were unaware of the plight of children and women trapped in sexual slavery around the world. "You could see it in their eyes that this was something worth going after. There were very few who didn't give and many went above and beyond," says Brent. "To raise awareness, that's a huge part of the battle.  We need to get people in the know about what is going on in the world.”

Brent encourages others to think of how "whatever your gift is, whether it is sewing or sales, how can you use the skills you have to make a difference?" It may not be building a house, says Brent "but find out what your skills are and use them to combat injustice in the world. It's so fun to use whatever you're good at to make things better. It was just great to shed some light into this very dark place."

IJM Canada thanks Brent and Jena, the local trades people and the congregation of Solid Rock Church for the courage and conviction they have displayed in building Isaiah’s House.  They are an inspiring example of how ordinary Canadians can take extraordinary measures to bring justice to the poor.