Mica Miller update: Pastor hubby resurfaces with new business plans

Six months after his wife Mica Miller went missing and was found dead, South Carolina pastor John-Paul “JP” Miller is making business moves.

Mica Miller, 30, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April and was found in a Lumber River State Park in North Carolina.

Mica and JP Miller were in the midst of a divorce at the time of her death.

Mica Miller’s sister, Sierra Francis, said in an affidavit that her sister was “hopeful” about her future after her divorce and had plans to move to Kenya to do missionary work.

In the affidavit, Francis also said that her sister warned family members that “if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was JP.”

Her family claimed Mica Miller kept a journal suggesting she was a victim of abusive coercive control.

On October 17, JP Miller filed court documents with the South Carolina Secretary of State for a new religious incorporation called Living Water Church at Market Common.

The purpose of the nonprofit corporation is charitable, religious, educational, and literary, according to the filing. The business address is listed as JP Miller’s personal residence in Myrtle Beach, SC.

If the new religious corporation is dissolved, the paperwork states its assets would go to St. Delight Pentecostal Church, founded by the mother of JP Miller’s mentor, Chares Randall.

On October 23, JP Miller formally updated the address of his church Solid Rock Ministries to its current location at 803 Howard Avenue in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Since 2006, the business address for Solid Rock had been his residential address for a home he shared with his first wife, Alison.

JP Miller, who “has a heart to ‘Love God and Love People'” started pastoring at Solid Rock in 2016, according to his bio on the church’s website.

Attempts by Newsweek to contact JP Miller were unsuccessful. Newsweek contacted his lawyer for comment. Solid Rock does not currently have a working phone number or email address listed on its website or social media.

In May, Solid Rock announced its expansion plans to build a new church and a tuition-based school for 1st through 9th grade students off the Highway 17 Bypass, WBTW reported.

Settlement with Mica Miller’s family

Three months after Mica Miller’s death, JP Miller and her family reached a legal settlement in August.

The terms of the settlement are sealed under a confidentiality agreement, but multiple outlets reported it came after a probate court hearing on Mica Miller’s estate.

Both legal teams reportedly told the judge they had agreed that Mica Miller’s sister, Sierra Francis, would dismiss her request to be the personal representative of Mica Miller’s estate.

JP Miller would be the personal representative of his wife’s estate, they agreed, pending the judge’s approval. The agreement also means Mica Miller’s family will not pursue any wrongful death lawsuit against JP Miller, which they were reportedly thinking of doing.

JP Miller denied abusing his wife during their marriage, telling KFDM in July that her family will “do anything for money.”

During his May 5 eulogy, JP Miller said he visited his estranged wife’s body at the morgue at least four times.

“Each time it still didn’t hit me,” he said. “I even tried to raise her from the dead one time this week.”

The pastor also told a story about visiting a mall and thinking he saw Mica, but it ended up being her sister. He spoke of Mica’s “integrity” with the work she did for the church, and talked about their travels and how she would “talk for hours and hours and hours” even if he tuned out sometimes.

“Everyone knew how beautiful she was on the outside,” JP Miller said. “But only, I think, a spouse knows how beautiful that person was on the inside.”

“Mica loved her family. She did not trust them as far as you could spit,” JP told the local news outlet.

Tim Carter, a friend of Mica’s, previously told NewsNation he had a “gut feeling” that he didn’t take her own life.

“I don’t believe it for a minute,” he told the outlet.

Who was Mica Miller?

Mica Miller’s friends said she led the women’s ministry and worship team at Solid Rock. She did not have any children. JP Miller has five kids with his previous wife.

On March 22, about a month before her death, Mica Miller posted a video on Facebook offering advice to anyone who may be in an abusive relationship.

“God hates divorce. But why?” she asked. “According to everybody I’ve asked and the scriptures that I’ve found, it’s because it hurts people. But does abuse hurt people? How do you think God feels about that?”

More than a week prior to recording that video, she told a police officer that she was “afraid for her life.” In two incident reports, Mica indicated someone was following her.

JP Miller claimed Mica Miller struggled with her mental health and that he had disagreements with her family on her need to take medication for her alleged suicidal thoughts.

“If a doctor, especially seven doctors, especially nurses, and counselors all say, ‘This woman needs medicine or she’s going to commit suicide,’ you tend to believe them,” he told in July. “Especially, when she comes off her medicine she tries to commit suicide.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “988” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

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