He opposes the "bikini bar," but if Terry Kemple had his way, the entire country would purge itself of temptation.
By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published July 15, 2005
BRANDON - Terry Kemple says the world is black and white.
You are either damned or saved, he says. You live in a war zone, where good and evil are constantly skirmishing.
For Kemple, one of those skirmishes involves a proposed "bikini bar" slated to open in the next two months at State Road 60 and Mount Carmel Road.
In the past two months, Kemple has emerged as the leader of a community movement to ban the bar at 1602 Brandon Blvd. His followers have become a familiar sight at the side of the road, waving signs that read "Protect Our Community" or bowing their heads in prayer.
Valrico and Brandon residents who've participated in Kemple's rallies say they don't want an erotic-themed establishment in their back yards. Kemple, however, hopes to channel their faith into an all-out assault on adult entertainment.
"I think my goal would be to see no bikini bars or nude clubs anywhere in the country," he said.
Kemple isn't a political novice. He's a former executive director of the Florida Christian Coalition and the state's Right to Life chapter.
Although his grandfather was a minister, his family was not particularly religious. Kemple came to his faith late in his life.
He tells a familiar story of sin and redemption - a story he has told many times in his life as a believer. As a young man, he says, he drank, did drugs and had indiscriminate sex. He dropped out of college to marry a pregnant girlfriend, fathered three children in that marriage, and divorced.
"There was a hole inside of me, in my heart somewhere, that I was trying to fill with the things my friends and the culture around me said were the way to fill it," he said.
He was 39 when his brother invited him to an old-fashioned tent revival. For reasons he can't explain, he found himself compelled to go along.
Kemple described his conversion that night as an intellectual awakening. "I just knew . . . that I needed this decision and I needed to make it today."
He never looked back.
Since then, Kemple's mission has been to bring exactly the same moment of clarity to others - whether or not they agree with him.
"My primary goal," he said, "is to reduce or eliminate those influences that make it difficult to hear the gospel, to hear about Christ."
He joined Bell Shoals Baptist Church, a 3,000-strong conservative church that his brother had recommended. Soon Kemple was invited to lead the church's issues committee.
From there, he got to know people in the Florida chapter of the Christian Coalition. When John Dallas, the chapter's founder, stepped down in 2000, Kemple took over.
That summer, Kemple worked to get out the vote for George W. Bush. He half-jokingly says that the narrow margin by which Bush won the state, and therefore the election, was due to his efforts.
The next year Kemple moved on to work as executive director for Florida Right to Life.
"He has the energy of 10 guys," said Bob Touchston, who hired Kemple at Right to Life and who now heads Kemple's nonprofit organization, STAND, Students Taking a New Direction. "I would say if Terry Kemple is involved, Katie, bar the door."
After a year, Kemple left Right to Life to work with youth.
He founded STAND, a company that organizes chastity rallies for teenagers. Since 2002, that has been Kemple's focus.
Then, this spring, Kemple heard rumors about plans for a bikini bar in Valrico.
The issue brought him back into the political realm. He organized a rally against the bar at Grace Bible Church; more than 650 people showed up.
Most were concerned about an adult-themed business in their back yards. But Kemple told them they were really concerned with stamping out all adult-oriented businesses in Hillsborough County.
Perhaps, he suggested, they were upset enough to back a ballot referendum banning such businesses.
Since then, he has taken the cause as his own, leading demonstrations and prayer meetings outside the empty club building, and holding private strategy meetings with other church and community members.
Kemple's critics say his goal - the banning of adult businesses - would require the county government to make moral decisions that should be personal.
"His motivations, I think, are well intended," said Luke Lirot, a lawyer representing the bar's owner, Jamie Rand.
"But I think his efforts go far beyond what would be constitutionally permissible . . . if somebody told him he could not express his opinion, I'd be happy to help him. But I don't like to see anybody go to the effort of trying to cram their ideology down the throats of people who don't choose to join them."
Kemple says he's just trying to cut down on the clamor that keeps people from hearing God's word.
"At some point, someone has to stand up and say, "Enough is enough,' " he said. "We're in a spiritual battle."
TERRY KEMPLE
FAMILY: Wife, Shirley, age undisclosed: "I don't want to get hanged." Daughters Bridgette, 39, Kathy, 38, Yeva, 34, and grown stepdaughters Rhonda and Wendy.
IN HIS SPARE TIME: Kemple reads Christian-themed self-help books.
FAVORITE BIBLE VERSE: John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."
AMOUNT OF SCRIPTURE MEMORIZED: 30 or 40 verses.
CURRENT VICE: "I worry more than I should. Also, I tend to get into television and just zone out."
