Mica Miller’s Pastor Husband and New Wife: Secret Life Exposed

Tucked between a dog groomer and a Colombian barbershop in a run-down strip mall is what remains of John-Paul Miller’s former kingdom.

The disgraced pastor once led a megachurch from a cavernous building packed with hundreds of devoted worshipers, complete with lighting and sound systems comparable to those found at major concert venues.

Over Labor Day weekend, however, Miller preached to only a few dozen supporters inside a small former nail salon beside a highway bypass outside Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Around 90 feet away, a loud protest was taking place. The demonstrations have intensified since the release of the new Netflix documentary Death of the Pastor’s Wife.

Miller, 47, has faced mounting controversy since his wife, Mica, 30, was found dead on April 27, 2024, just days after she filed for divorce.

His Solid Rock Church congregation rapidly dwindled after he was accused of driving Mica to suicide and abusing her during their marriage.

The small group of remaining followers joined him at Mercy Church, a new congregation located near businesses including “Golf Knickers,” “Bare Wax and Beyond” and “Hollywood’s Bar Grill.”

Dressed in a green polo shirt embroidered with the church’s name, Miller preached forcefully inside as though he had never been driven from the larger stage.

Preaching alongside Miller is his new wife, 51-year-old Suzie Skinner, who he is accused of having an affair with behind Mica’s back. Skinner’s former husband drowned in a swimming pool in 2021 amid allegations that she was involved in an affair with the pastor.

A grand jury indicted Miller in December last year on federal cyberstalking charges tied to an alleged campaign of harassment against Mica in the period leading up to her death. His trial is scheduled for later this year.

Mica was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Lumbee River State Park in North Carolina, after calling 911 to tell her family where to find her.

Miller is back in the headlines after the release of the damning documentary that delved into the many accusations surrounding their marriage.

For months, a growing group of ‘Justice for Mica’ campaigners have protested outside Mercy Church every Sunday, holding up pictures of Mica’s face and placards with slogans like ‘church walls won’t hide your crimes.’

Their presence has Miller rattled enough to impose security measures, including a newly installed six-foot wooden fence which blocks views of the church’s entrance. Thick blinds also cover the windows.

Last Sunday, Miller was driven to and from the church and his home just 1.1 miles away by an armed private security guard and a uniformed Horry County Police Department officer stood watch outside the door.

The pastor sheepishly poked his head out the door minutes before the 10.30am service began to say a death threat had been made. The policeman ducked inside to investigate but returned to his post several minutes later.

No sooner was worship over about 12pm, Miller and Suzie were whisked out the back door into a gravel alley. By now the crowd of a few dozen protesters had moved to the intersection with the US-17 Bypass and was screaming at his black Honda Ridgeline as it drove past.

When confronted by Our News Outlet outside his home soon afterwards, a furious Miller jumped back in his car and drove away while filming on his phone.

Mercy Church is Miller’s attempt at a rebrand after the fallout from Mica’s death doomed its previous incarnation, Solid Rock Church.

Boasting hundreds of members in its heyday, almost all of them abandoned Miller until the church was finally shut down and everything inside given away in November 2024 after an FBI raid on his home.

Miller soon began his new church with the few dozen who stuck by him, first meeting in a gym and an abandoned shop before the old church was sold for $2.1 million in February last year.

The humble new venue, measuring just 1,120sq ft and so narrow it could only fit rows of seven chairs, was acquired for $155,000 in cash.

Mercy Church was initially registered with a ‘Mollie Fleming’ as its sole agent, an almost identical name to Miller’s paternal grandmother Molly Fleming, who died in November aged 96.

‘Nana was closest to her grandson, John-Paul Miller, and spent her final years on Earth in deep prayer for her family,’ Molly’s obituary read.

Videos of early services showed only about 20 people with greying and thinning hair in the audience as both Miller and Suzie preached from a cheap, flimsy lectern.

Churchgoers said the congregation initially struggled to grow but claimed it had swelled to 40 or 50 people of all ages this year – despite the charges against its pastor.

Miller has largely kept his head down since he was indicted.

He and Suzie were spotted at a Myrtle Beach Pelicans minor league baseball game on September 2, dressed casually and trying to blend in.

The couple also appeared on an artist’s social media pages after she ran a canvas paint party at Mercy Church in June.

Sixteen church members, almost all of whom were elderly women, grinned as they showed off their paintings of a tropical island scene.

Also in the shot was Miller’s father Reginald Wayne Miller, himself a disgraced former pastor who is accused in civil lawsuits of sexual abuse.

The artist, Angela Bartholow, said she didn’t know who the pastor was and only realized the church’s notoriety after the Netflix documentary came out.

‘The people I interacted with during this activity were very nice to me, and welcoming,’ she said.

‘I can not, and will not judge an entire group of people based on one person’s actions, and allegations against them… At the end of the day I am just an artist who runs this small business.

‘I hope that justice is served in whatever capacity is deemed necessary, and I hope the friends and family of Mica find peace.’

Miller’s best friend and former business partner, Mark Kaufman, has also attempted to distance himself amid fallout from the documentary.

Kaufman said in a statement this week that he had ‘severed ties’ with Miller and his church and bought out his shares in a local bar they owned.

The businessman also denied accusations in the documentary that he picked up a woman from an airport and drove her to Miller so he could cheat on Mica with her.

Disturbing new claims in Death of the Pastor’s Wife included that Mica feared her husband would murder her and stage her suicide.

‘He’s gonna put a bullet in my head and then tell everybody I killed myself,’ Mica’s friend and former Solid Rock member Bruna Pabon claimed she said.

Mica’s siblings claimed Miller forcibly admitted her to a mental hospital and questioned whether she was really mentally ill.

An affidavit Mica wrote days before her death as part of a restraining order application, revealed by her lawyer Regina Ward, also accused him of sexually exploiting her.

‘Paid three homeless people to engage in threesome,’ Mica wrote, and that he injected her with testosterone to ‘keep up with [his] sex drive.’

Mica also claimed Miller showed nude photos of her in ‘sexual postures’ to members of Solid Rock Church.

‘I am afraid he will harm me due to past gun violence,’ she wrote.

In the Netflix documentary, it is claimed that Mica told friends Miller harassed her by turning the bedroom lights on and off to stop her sleeping when she didn’t want to have sex with him – something he demanded up to four times a day.

Miller faces up to five years in prison for federal cyberstalking charges and two years for making false statements, plus a fine of up to $250,000.

The case has been postponed several times and is scheduled for trial in October.

Mica filed for divorce from Miller in October 2023, before they reconciled in February 2024, then again on April 15, 2024, just before her death.

There is no evidence Miller murdered his wife and he has repeatedly denied any involvement, along with claims of abuse or infidelity.

Miller is also fighting separate civil claims, accused in a lawsuit last July of raping a 15-year-old girl in 1998 while working at his father’s church in Myrtle Beach when he was 19.

Days later, a second woman, known as ‘Jane Doe #2’, sued him and his father for sexual abuse between 1999 and 2001 starting when she was 14.

Miller has denied both claims.