TESTIMONY
Kevin Kemp: A Man of God in Prison
By Rod Thomas
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– Kevin Kemp was an up and coming musician in the L.A. nightclub scene.
"I was seduced by the lifestyle," Kevin tells The 700 Club. "I started selling dope and making money, eventually became my own best customer and started smoking up my product and my profits. It was downhill from there."
His drug lifestyle caused led him to make a terrible decision: break into a home and rob the man that lived there. Kevin kept watch outside, while the others attacked the man inside.
"I’m looking through the window, and there was an altercation in the house. I saw him go down. We left."
That night, Kevin went back to check on the man they robbed. But, when he got there, he found him dead. He called the police, but fled the scene. Eventually, police brought him in for questioning.
"They asked me what happened. 'I don’t know. I wasn’t there.' 'Your story’s not adding up. You need to tell us something. You need to tell us more than you’re telling us.'”
Kevin confessed to the murder. Even though he didn’t actually kill the man, he felt responsible since he planned the robbery.
"I felt like I set him up. If I had not been for that, nothing ever would have happened. He’d still be here if it wasn’t for me."
Kevin was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. He says, "I’m going to spend the rest of my life incarcerated. How am I going to do it?"
Kevin’s girlfriend Brenda was devastated. They had two children, and now she would have to raise them alone. She recalls, "I didn’t think he would ever see the light of day. I was really worried about his survival, the kids growing up, especially my son, without his dad being here."
Kevin says, "She came and told me that, 'If you dedicate your life to me and your son, I will do as much of this time with you as I can.'"
Brenda and Kevin were married in a prison waiting room. Life inside was rough for the first-time offender.
"I felt really bad about myself. Really like worthless."
But as he dealt with life behind bars, a stranger visited him, who told him that God could forgive his crime and change his life.
"I remember telling him, 'Man, I blew it. It’s over.' I was taking the Ten Commandments literally: 'Thou shalt not kill'. I said, 'I’m done.'"
But the man told him about Jesus.
“'God’ll forgive you for that. God’ll forgive you.' He convinced me that God will forgive us for anything if we repent and confess it to him. So, he led me through the sinner’s prayer."
Kevin started going to the chaplain’s Bible studies.
"Initially it was to get out of the cell and then started to really come to know God through reading my Word.
Jesus means everything to me. Jesus is my example, my strength, my hope. That’s what I live for. I live to breathe. I live to please God."
Kevin earned a college degree and eventually started helping the chaplain. As he connected with Christians inside, back home, his family was falling apart.
Brenda says, "I had to ask myself, Who am I? What is it that I want? Why am I really doing this? Am I doing this for myself? For the kids, for Kevin? So it just came to that cross in the road. I really loved my husband, but I just felt I couldn’t do it anymore."
After seven years, they divorced, but Kevin refused to let go.
"I always had in the back of my mind I would marry her again," Kevin says. "After I went through my little pity party, I would marry her again when I got out."
After serving 19 years, Kevin was released on good behavior. He says, "I became a man in there. I became a man of God in prison. If you can really get a grip on God, really trust Him and know that He can change lives, we can make it."
He kept his promise to Brenda.
"We talked and decided to start dating again. We decided to start right this time. We’re going to do it God’s way. We did that," Kevin says. "We dated for six months before we got married."
Brenda says, "It’s beautiful now. We’re back together. We’re fellowshipping at the same church together."
Kevin has started a gospel group called "Redemption". Most of the band members are former prisoners.
"The music is really secondary. It’s about becoming men of god and understanding discipleship. That’s what God’s been giving me lately. Men need to be discipled."
Despite spending almost half of his life behind bars, Kevin is grateful for a second chance.
"He saved my life. When I went to prison, I got rescued. I didn’t get arrested. Jesus rescued me."
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