News13 investigates: Questions continue to swirl around John-Paul Miller and Solid Rock Ministries
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — News13 continues to follow the story of Mica Miller, the Horry County woman who investigators say shot and killed herself last month.
At the time she was going through divorce proceedings with her husband, pastor and founder of the Solid Rock Ministries Church, John-Paul Miller.
When details of Mica’s death were announced, John-Paul was released from “all ministerial functions for a time of healing, counsel, and guidance, pursuant to our governing instrument,” according to a statement from a church advisor.
Church officials have said since then that he remains affiliated with Solid Rock.
Police reports say Mica was also a suspect in a now closed theft investigation regarding church funds.
Her family said after her death, she didn’t steal from the church and her family had questions about the church’s finances and even if they properly paid Mica for her work with the church.
News13 was later shown court documents by her attorney showing Mica was given access to funds in a church account earmarked for mission work in Kenya.
Solid Rock announced last week it plans to build a seven-figure school on a property off Highway 17 Bypass.
News13 was the first to report on Solid Rock Ministries publicly known assets from combing through land records, tax forms and online data bases to tabulate it’s $5.59 million portfolio, that includes acres of land, and a $429,000 airplane, registered with the FAA on May 9.
The centerpiece of Solid Rock’s planned expansion is a new church and school, for 1st through 9th grade students, off Highway 17 Bypass, near the newly Publix Supermarket complex off Coventry Road.
News13 has asked church leaders for an on-camera interview and sent a list of questions to their lawyers, asking for more details on the church and school expansion.
The church’s website had been suspended for about three weeks, and just recently came back online, with one significant change. Under its “Leadership” category, it now says “coming soon.” Previously, it noted John-Paul Miller as one of 3 senior pastors.
Also, listed a one of those pastors was Bernard Kenerson. News13 had learned that Kenerson is a registered sex offender, convicted in March 1991 for “indecent acts with another.”
Kenerson was listed as an elder at Solid Rock Church as of February 21. He also was adult Sunday school overseer and a “short term facilitator/teacher,” per the church website then. It’s not clear though if he is violating any laws being a registered sex offender.
Kenerson told News13 after this story published that he resigned from his position at Solid Rock on May 4. He said he and his wife do not have any involvement with the church anymore and “will not be back.”
News13 has reached to attorneys for the church, but we have not heard back.
Kenerson is also pictured in an undated photograph on the church’s website, posing with John-Paul Miller and another Solid Rock senior pastor. That photo has since been scrubbed off the church website.
Timeline: What’s happened so far in the death of Myrtle Beach woman Mica Miller
Russell Long, an attorney representing both John-Paul Miller and Solid Rock Ministries, has not answered multiple requests for comment by News13 — including a detailed list of questions sent to his email on Monday.
Solid Rock’s planned Highway 17 Bypass expansion is creating more space for the tuition-based school. Costs must be paid in full and starts at $3,300. The school’s website doesn’t give enrollment figures but says it offers classes for students in grades one through nine.
In a December 2023 interview with The Sun News, John-Paul said the campus was expected to be ready some time next year. Church members donated about $1 million to pay for it, he told the newspaper.
‘Money is the most fascinating subject to me’
John-Paul Miller founded Solid Rock on four core values: ‘We serve,” “We forgive,” “We respect” and “We give.”
He explained in February 2021 sermon why he believed money “is the most fascinating subject to me in the Bible.”
“All growing up, I saw Christians manipulate each other financially, I’ve seen spouses break up and have horrible marriages because they fight about money, I’ve seen friendships that were supposed to last forever disintegrate because of money,” he said.
Miller said he would ask the church’s bookkeeper for tithing information on congregants if they expressed interest in taking on a leadership role or “cause me a whole bunch of problems.”
Tithing is the practice of giving 10% of a person’s income to support a church or religious community.
Miller said he began tithing in 2003 after a religious conversion. Solid Rock Church earned its federal tax-exempt status in 2015.
“Let’s say you meet somebody and you start to fall in love and you really want to get to know them, because we can all put on a good face, we can all fake people out, if you really want to know somebody, look at their bank account,” Miller said. “Imagine telling somebody, ‘I love you,’ but they never ever spend any money on you.”
While Solid Rock Ministries doesn’t claim a denomination, marketing materials label it as “Christian.”
On Solid Rock’s website, John-Paul Miller starts one section by saying “I am the richest person on the planet.”
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability — which counts more than 2,700 affiliates nationwide — does not include Solid Rock Ministries among them, according to its website
Ground Zero in Myrtle Beach and WMBJ FM based in Murrells Inlet are ECFA members.
John-Paul Miller also runs Dare2Care Missions, whose website is “dedicated to Mica Miller.” The ministry is dedicated to “building the Kingdom of God” in Kenya and urges donors to give $300 a year to attend the ministry’s African-based school.
Solid Rock Church has direct connection to architect of forced labor scheme
If Solid Rock Church was on the tax rolls, its coveted Market Common footprint would have an overall value of $1.93 million, according to Horry County land records.
John Paul Miller’s father, Reginald Wayne Miller paid $280,000 to the U.S. Air Force in 1995 when he opened Cathedral Baptist Church at the 803 Howard Ave. site.
In 2014, Reginald Miller took a deal with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty to fraud in foreign labor contracting, visa fraud and willful failure to pay minimum wage — all stemming from claims that they worked at Miller’s Cathedral Bible College under a “pervasive climate of fear and intimidation” that includes being forced to work at Miller’s home unpaid, deprivation of food and water and threats to eliminate their visa status.
Miller was charged with crimes that carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Homeland-Security-affidavitDownload
In January 2013, Cathedral Baptist Church transferred the Howard Avenue property to Solid Rock Ministries for $300,000.
Solid Rock’s airplane is idling in North Carolina
Solid Rock Ministries registered a 2007 Cirrus four-seater with the FAA on May 9, according to government records, but the aircraft was last used April 6, flying from Knoxville, Tenn. to Rocky Mount, N.C.
A plane of similar make and model is listed for sale online at more than $429,000.
On its website, Solid Rock explains how its finances are split: A third on ministry purposes including local, national and international mission work, a third for employment and third for maintenance and operations.
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Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here.
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