exposed

Son Finds Proof of His Father’s Abuse

Posted on by Sydney Sjorlund

It’s in January of 2016 that I, Alexander Clemence, son of Kevin Dodd, find to be the best place to begin telling you this story. 

I was 18 years old and still living with my parents. At this time also living here were my parents, Kevin and Teri Dodd, one of my biological sisters, Brittanie Dodd, my cousin Guy, my three adopted siblings and Sydney. 

Sydney had been living with my family for three and a half years. She moved in when Steffanie still lived there, who since then had gotten married and moved out. 

Her decision to move in was one of practical benefit; she wanted to help coach a volleyball team with Brittanie and driving from Joplin as frequently as she would have to wasn’t tenable. Having had the impression that my family was a trustworthy Christian family, neither she nor her parents had any inkling of risk posed to her by any one of the Dodd’s. 

Sydney had forgotten her phone in the bathroom, I was the one who found it and I knew the passcode to unlock it. I chose to look into her messages with my father, and I found a string of texts and replies between them, arranging a secret meeting behind a gas station. 

I brought this to my mother, who, seemingly enraged, called for my father whose first instinct was to lie by trying to show how the messages weren’t present on his phone. Immediately it was obvious he’d deleted them on his end. Within the hour the other two elders of our church got to the house to guide us in this situation. These two elders were Brandon Dodd, my fathers first-born son and Jonathan Betancourt who had been frequently claimed as another son by my parents. There was nothing said of the questionable nature of these two men being the ones to handle this situation – in fact, there were no questions asked except those that were harshly rebuked.

At one point with only Sydney and the young children absent from the room, I asked my father a question about how physical things had been. At the time I remember feeling guilty when my father quietly indicated that it wasn’t just hugging or being handsy. Not guilty because of his response, or because of the fact that my mother seemed angry with him. I was made to feel guilty by my brother, who angrily reminded me that no one was meant to ask questions but he or Jonathan. 

Very little information made its way out at this point. It’s ironic because this was in my opinion the first and last point that my father felt a modicum of guilt. Guilt that I now see for what it was; someone cowering in fear of the consequences about to rain down on them.

I was quickly denied being present in any other conversations, which left me to simply observe the activity. The Elders spoke with only my father to confirm details, neglecting to speak to Sydney at all until initial consequences were being put in place. 

Sydney’s phone and car keys were taken; the line of reasoning being that they didn’t want to risk her communicating further with my father. 

Neither my father’s phone nor his vehicle access were removed. Likewise when the elder’s decided to put an application on Sydney’s phone to monitor her messages, my father refused this as well. 

Kevin faced no consequences while Sydney was banished to live with another young couple in the church, Savannah Stargell and her husband Zack, my sister and her husband. Sydney was also forbidden to speak about the matter with anyone, but absolutely not with Savannah or Zack.

My father was so fully spared anything past a slap on the wrist that my mother – in what was purported as grace but I see as compliance – let him sleep in the same bed as her that same night. 

Kevin deserved – if nothing else – brutal scrutiny, and was instead treated as a man who slightly erred and deserved nothing but compassion. While the church elders shunted a young woman off to an unfamiliar home with no outside contact or means of escape, they spoke to the family of her abuser to implore them to be mindful of his state, fearing he might do something to harm himself.

No such concern was spoken in regards to Sydney.

I had one other conversation with my brother that night before he left. Because in the last year I had made clear intentions that I was fully intent on marrying Sydney; intentions she didn’t have any notion of. 

So I simply asked my brother and church elder how I handled those feelings and that intention in lieu of what I now knew had happened. 

I’m sharing his response with you because I feel it is telling of the wicked perspective of my brother, a purported man of God. 

“Everyone has dirt, you just have to ask yourself if she’s going to be too dirty to you now.” 


Click here for the next blog post “Constant”

Moving in: Part 2

Posted on by Sydney Sjorlund

Senior year, my best friend Savannah Dodd who I met playing volleyball and I were graduating high school in a few short months. I had grown close with her family as they offered to me and my family that I could come and stay with them after late night practices or early morning games since we lived about an hour and a half away. They ran the team I played for and they offered a coaching job to me as I hadn’t planned on going to college, they even offered to let me move in with them and help. My parents were okay with it as the family (particularly Teri Dodd) was always super kind to my mom and so loving and welcoming to us. 

Since I didn’t really have any set plans after high school it sounded like a good idea! I had opened up with Savannah about my depression and then the other sisters as I moved in. Savannah got married and moved out right before I moved in, so I got closer with Steffanie and Brittanie Dodd. As we got closer I was heavily encouraged to seek out counseling particularly from Kevin Dodd. Kevin was the head elder at the church the Dodd’s started and everyone referred to him and Teri as my second parents. The family also started heavily picking at anything I said about my parents claiming that they were abusive and not loving, but we will talk about that isolation more in another post. 

I was repeatedly told for months I needed to go to Kevin for counseling and that I wasn’t being a good “daughter” in the house as I wasn’t submitting myself to him. I had struggled with depression and intrusive thoughts, not self harming or suicidal, more like I would pull up at a stoplight and think the person in the car next to me would break in and kidnap me, pull a gun and shoot me, things like that. 

After about 6 months or so I finally did go to Kevin and one day in particular I was telling him about something I was struggling with, it was nap time and the little kids were asleep and I don’t remember who all was home adult wise but we were alone in the living room which wasn’t uncommon. I started crying at one point, I was standing and he came over to me and sat in a chair I was by and pulled me on to his lap. It was odd but I remembered the girls telling me about how their dad Kevin would hold them when they were upset, so I tried to calm my racing mind, reminding myself this was a normal thing. 

A little later Teri got home and he knew I didn’t like crying in front of people so Kevin took me downstairs to the basement. He brought me into the makeshift bedroom they had made with a partition wall that was just big enough to hold a queen sized bed. He stayed with me over the course of several hours leaving occasionally to go upstairs and check on things. I was told by him and all the family that I needed to basically tell Kevin everything that was going on. 

I proceeded to tell him all about my fear of men and why I had chosen to not date. I was scared, I was terrified that I would be put into a position to have to tell a man no. I didn’t know if I would be able to do that, I was a major people pleaser and throughout my teens I had so many guys cat call and text me inappropriate things and even then I struggled to tell them to stop because I was so scared I would hurt their feelings or something. So there I was sobbing to this man I have been told to submit myself to as my Elder and father figure, divulging my deepest darkest secrets as I believed those were likely causing my depression. 

He pulled me down onto his lap while he was sitting on the bed and began running his hands up and down my back. Internally I started freaking out, “is this normal? This doesn’t feel normal. But they all keep telling me that my family is horrible and I don’t know what a normal loving family looks like. Maybe this is it, he probably doesn’t realize how low his hand keeps going.” Kevin would tell me he was going upstairs for a while and was going to let me rest for a bit and he would come back and check on me and see if I was ready to talk more. He came back and stood me up and hugged me, again his hands started wandering on my back as I was crying for over two hours on and off, it was nighttime at this point. Then he let his hands go a little lower onto my jeans pulling my hips harder into him as he started rocking his hip on me. Panic started to set in, “what’s happening, does he mean to do this? This is my pastor and elder, his daughter is my best friend. I must be mistaken, he isn’t doing anything wrong, he’s just tired and not thinking!” He turned me around at some point, my back against his chest, his hands were on my stomach and kept creeping down to the top of my jeans and then up to the edge of my bra all the while he just kept rocking his hips against my body. This went on for several hours. I finally got to the point where I was so exhausted that I couldn’t hardly stand anymore and my eyes were swollen from crying, so he took me to my room and told me to go to bed. 

Once I woke up that morning, I remember thinking and trying to make sense of the night before, “What happened? He is my elder, a second dad to me, he must’ve not known how far his hands kept going, there simply is no other explanation!” I went upstairs after getting ready for the day to find Kevin in the kitchen and the 3 little kids in the breakfast nook. Kevin said good morning and asked how I was and I told him I was okay, still a little tired and worn out from everything. 

There was small talk while I got myself something to drink and talked some to the little kids. Kevin walked over beside me and gave me a hug and told me that he was glad I was able to come to him and he would help me and counsel me. Then he pulled me in tighter and pressed my body firmly up against his and his hands kept getting lower on my back and he let out a big sigh. He started to whisper in my ear telling me I was just so beautiful he couldn’t control his wandering hands but that he wanted to keep helping me, so he needed me to tell him and his hands no. It would be my job to stop him from letting his hands wander on my body and kept doing the same thing as the night before. 

I was stunned and shocked; what was he saying? Didn’t he hear me last night tell him that the only reason I as a nineteen year old had never dated or anything was because I was so terrified of men and the fact that I couldn’t tell anyone no? Also, did that mean everything he did was on purpose, why would he do that? He says I’m like a daughter to him and I’m his daughter’s best friend! What should I do? Maybe he won’t do that again now that he has acknowledged that he’s wrong, he’s obviously sorry and wont do it again! Also, I am just going to have to try to tell him no, he told me that’s my job but what’s okay and not. Everyone has said I don’t have a normal family and it’s okay for him to hold me like a child but in my head I didn’t think that was okay. What is normal and okay and what isn’t? 

I was so confused and I didn’t have anyone I could talk to about it because I didn’t even know what really happened! But he told me we should talk again soon and especially when I was ready to talk about my dreams. Because he said, “I don’t think those are just dreams, no one has dreams like that that wasn’t abused!”

That is how the grooming and abuse started.

Click Here for Next Boundary Crossed: Part 3

Introduction: Part 1

Posted on by Sydney Sjorlund

This blog contains the story of what happened to Sydney Sjorlund at Hope Baptist Church in Springfield Missouri. Sydney was living with the Kevin Dodd family and Kevin’s son Stephen discovered evidence that his dad was engaged in a totally inappropriate relationship with Sydney. The cat was out of the bag and the leadership of Hope Baptist Church had to do something about it. If they had fears that Kevin’s actions were criminal in nature they were well justified. So they went into damage control mode, concocting a plan to share blame equally between the perpetrator Pastor Kevin Dodd and Sydney.  Pastor Kevin Dodd stood before the members of Hope Baptist Church and confessed his sin of “adultery.” He then announced he was stepping down as head pastor. Sydney was then forced to stand before the congregation and read a short prepared statement (which had to be pre-approved by the elders) and confess her “sin of adultery.” The entire event was a sham and many members were outraged by it. Over half the church removed their memberships, some doing so only after confronting the elders over what we could plainly see was a cover up. Some of us have, from time to time, continued calling our former elders to repentance. All efforts have fallen on deaf ears. We’ve waited far longer than we probably should have to bring this matter public. 

There are no laws against grooming. Predators are left unfettered to groom even little children, waiting patiently until they reach the age of “consent.” Rarely does clergy sexual abuse occur without prior grooming, and often the grooming has taken place over years, prior to any sexual assault. The goal of grooming is to slowly and progressively break down natural self-protection barriers. It starts seemingly innocent enough with hugging leading to long embraces, progressing to touching and stroking, lap-sitting, etc. This leads to petting over the clothing. Once the actual sexual abuse begins, the victim has been thoroughly conditioned to put up little or no resistance to it.  

Even with all the prior grooming, sexual abuse always results in trauma, confusion and self-doubt. Trauma is amplified where it includes not just sexual abuse but also verbal and emotional abuse and blame. Try as the predator might to convince his victim that “We’ve got a special relationship. But we have to keep it a secret because no one else will understand,” the victim will feel shame. The shame, self-doubt and confusion serves to the benefit of the predator by keeping the victim silent. Then there’s the issue of gaslighting. Some pastors are extraordinarily gifted at gaslighting, especially where they authoritatively quote the Word Of God as justification for their actions. Predatory pastors often gaslight their victims into believing the sex is something the victim wants. That way if the predator is caught he can claim it’s “consensual” and therefore, at worst, “adultery.” Predatory pastors rarely ever accept responsibility fully. At best they “blame-share” thereby making their victims equally responsible. Some even go so far as to victim-blame, i.e. “She seduced me with her feminine wiles.” One of the favorite sermons predatory pastors preach is on David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba gets the blame for “tempting David by indiscreetly bathing on her roof.” 

What happens when victims of clergy sexual abuse do muster up the courage to be a whistle-blower in their church? In many if not most cases elders, deacons, and many of the congregants circle the wagons. It may not be right but it’s a natural tendency to disbelieve a whistle-blower, especially where what’s at stake is the unblemished reputation of a “godly spiritual leader.” Even where there’s overwhelming evidence of clergy sexual abuse, at best it will be spun as “an inappropriate physical relationship,” or perhaps “adultery” with the goal of “restoring the pastor” as quickly as possible. Little if any regard is given to the victim. 

This is Sydney’s story, but she writes it with our support – former members of Hope Baptist Church Springfield. Tragically this isn’t just a case of your ordinary clergy sexual abuse. It’s actually much worse than that. Add to that a daily dose of verbal and emotional abuse. Yeah, not consensual in the least. Gaslight the victim into believing their parents were “evil” and “abusive.” After encouraging Sydney to move into their home the Dodds engaged in a calculated agenda of parental alienation to isolate Sydney from her own family, thereby making her that much more vulnerable. 

To the Matthew 18 Police: Yes, multiple members have confronted the elders, and repeatedly so. Many have brought their concerns to them, pleading for plausible explanations, only to be rebuffed with a blanket, “It’s slander. It’s lies. It’s gossip.” Their refusal to provide any credible justifications left us only to plead with them to repent and step down from leadership. Even as recently as February 2023 some went to them yet once again, only to have them circle the wagons again. Six years have come and gone with no resolution in sight. It is with great regret that we now are compelled to take this catastrophic moral failure public. 

Kevin Dodd stepped down in 2016 as head pastor of Hope Baptist Church (only to be replaced by the very elders who covered up for him), as of this date Kevin Dodd remains Associate Pastor Of Worship at First Baptist Church of Battlefield, MO even though they have removed him from the website. This is a prime example of pastors protecting predators while ignoring their victims. Though Pastor Ray Smith has known about this for years, he’s content to permit a sexual predator “minister” in the midst of the very flock he’s charged with guarding. Other Baptist pastors and leaders in the Springfield area were also long ago made aware but likewise have turned a blind eye. 

Sydney’s story may contain graphic descriptions of sexual abuse. Sydney is apprehensive about going into any graphic detail. But we have encouraged her to be fully disclosing the details, not for shock value but in the interest of uncovering what Hope Baptist Church elders have sought for so long to cover up. The nasty details are the very thing they know to likely constitute criminal acts. It is therefore inappropriate for children to read this blog. Reading this blog could also trigger victims of sexual abuse and should, therefore, be read only after careful reflection of whether or not the reader is emotionally prepared.



Click Here for Moving in: Part 2