Bernice Sondrup, who has had contact with thousands of prostitutes over her years of ministry, says Crossfire volunteers would have talked to everyone of the 54. Scanning a sheet of their photographs, the 63-year-old grandmother and former missionary to the Shuswap people reminisces about the ones she knew personally: this one stayed at the Crossfire safe house; that one accepted the Lord; this one was consumed by drugs.

Many of the women had been struggling to make changes in their lives. Some had gone through recovery programs, only to relapse. Several of them had become part of church co...