Church investigating former National Guard chaplain over sexual misconduct claims
By Jasper Craven for VTDigger, December 4, 2018
The New England chapter of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has commenced an investigation into the Williamstown Lutheran Church’s pastor, Calvin Kemp, who was the subject of a recent VTDigger report that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct by Kemp in his role as a chaplain at the Vermont National Guard.
Kemp’s former assistant, Heather King, told VTDigger that she entered into a coercive sexual relationship with Kemp that lasted from roughly 2005 to 2008.
“At work, [Kemp] kept saying how easy it was to fire a chaplain assistant. He made this point lots of times, at random times, reminding me that my job was hinging on him,” King said in an interview earlier this year. “I knew I couldn’t report it; I thought nothing would happen and I’d lose my job and I loved my job.”
Kemp has served at the Williamstown church since August 1995, first as a vicar then as a pastor. A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Kemp retired from the Guard in 2014 following an investigation into King’s allegations. Kemp did not respond to phone and email messages left for him Tuesday.
Rev. Timothy Yeadon, the supervising church authority over the Williamstown Lutheran Church, said the church opened an investigation into Kemp this week, after church officials were made aware of VTDigger’s reporting.
