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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, places like Florence, South Carolina were ripe for the founding of independent churches. These congregations sought to answer the social and spiritual needs of those emerging from the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War – people seeking a community-centered religious organization unbound by strict, traditional ideology. At the same time, televangelism was broadening the reach of preachers far beyond geographical boundaries. It was into this environment the Florence Tabernacle Church was founded by Reginald Wayne Miller in 1972.
When Florence Tabernacle Inc. celebrated its five year anniversary in 1977, it did so with an eye to the future and the construction of a new campus – which was to be called Gloryland.
Miller’s empire also included Good Morning Jesus – a weekday television program that aired regionally twice each morning, Monday thru Friday. There was also the Tabernacle Bible Institute, the Word of Truth Christian Bookstore, Tabernacle Printing and Tabernacle Productions. Since its founding, the growing church occupied three different locations – each an improvement over the previous accommodations. Soon, congregation members would be building a new church of their own.
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The new Gloryland campus was to include a daycare, an elementary school, a high school, a production studio for the television ministry, a new worship center, a 2,000-seat auditorium, a shopping village (with a restaurant and motel), cottages for missionaries, camping and recreation areas for families, dormitories for college students and retirement homes for seniors. Public attractions would include a petting zoo and a recreation of Calvary.
“For without a vision the people perish,” a newspaper ad proclaiming plans for Gloryland noted.
It touted Florence Tabernacle Inc. as South Carolina’s largest Inter-denominational Charismatic Church – and noted its location as mid-way between New York City and Miami.
It was into this world that John Paul Miller was born in 1979 – and he was soon to become a product of his environment. Miller founded Solid Rock Ministries in 2006 and purchased the Air Force chapel owned by his father’s church in 2013.
The Millers’ roots are in Florence – which is where their story begins. We are reconstructing the history with the help of archives from the local media that first reported on the Millers and their ambitious religious dynasty.
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UNBRIDLED AMBITION
On a parallel track with the Millers, in 1974 Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker founded the Praise the Lord television network (PTL) – in Charlotte, North Carolina. Four years later, they built a religious theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina called Heritage USA.
Within the decade, their empire was lost to scandal.
As the Bakkers fell from grace, Wayne Miller – who at that time remained a rising star amongst charismatic preachers – attempted to take over the ministry, an effort thwarted by Jerry Falwell.
This very public power play wasn’t Wayne Miller’s first (or only) attempt to convert his church-building success into a wider realm of influence. His political endeavors began much closer to home – but did not always realize the intended results.
In 1985, Wayne Miller united forces with a group called Citizens Against Pornography and applied his influence to get the Florence city council to enact a ban that was almost instantly determined to be unconstitutional. This particular effort prompted the Florence Morning News to bestow upon Miller the “‘Larry Flynt Hustler Magazine Award‘ for the lovingly detailed and graphic description he gave council of a dirty videocassette he had watched”.
The tongue in cheek newspaper award intended as a bit of humor hinted at a much bigger scandal soon to come.
In February 1989, local television station WPDE TV-15 (ABC – Myrtle Beach/Florence) aired the results of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against Miller involving students of his Bible college. It isn’t known if law enforcement investigated these allegations, but Miller was never charged with a crime in connection with any inquiry. The impact on Miller’s marriage was undeniable, though – as detailed in affidavits from his then-wife, Susan Miller, when she filed for divorce. In response to the television news report, Miller filed a lawsuit on March 15, 1989 against the station accusing it of “maliciously misreporting the facts” and demanding $5 million in damages.
A short time later, the suit was voluntarily withdrawn by Miller.
As the popularity of Miller’s television ministry ran its course – and rumors of sexual misconduct set in – the changing atmosphere ultimately led Miller to rebrand and start over in a new location.
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Miller set his sights on Myrtle Beach – where he hoped to revitalize his ministry and his reputation. In 1993, the Air Force base was closing down, which translated into an opportunity to acquire real estate on which he could build or rebuild his church. So, the Millers moved to Myrtle Beach.
As Miller let his intentions for the property be known, his church met in a storefront on North Ninth Street. In preparation for the reinvention of his ministry, Florence Tabernacle – a.k.a. Tabernacle Baptist Church – became Cathedral Baptist Church.
Backed by a formidable army of supporters and letter writers, Miller asked the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to give him the chapel and the land it was built on – while he simultaneously pushed to acquire an additional 22 acres of property. The process took years – and at times was met with resistance. For Miller, it was a religious crusade.
“Miller waged a bitter fight for years to get free land, going so far as to tell opponents that God will punish them for trying to interfere with his plans,” one local paper reported.
The federal government had a program that provided for the gifting of surplus property to schools or nonprofit organizations serving the community. However, Miller’s enterprises were all based around the church he founded. Their purpose was to train Bible teachers and preachers for ministry. Perhaps more importantly, his college was unaccredited.
Well into the process of requesting free land, Miller’s plan hit a snag and the feds began asking questions. The hiccup was caused by the fact that Cathedral Baptist Church had no audited financials that would prove the entity’s ability to perform necessary renovations.
Any resistance to Miller’s plans were greeted with a barrage of hundreds of letters and phone calls – campaigns of organized harassment with Miller himself delivering threatening rhetoric accompanied by presumed righteous authority.
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As Miller was busy trying to obtain free federal land for his church and Bible college, the sexual misconduct allegations resurfaced. This time, Miller fired back at the television station with a vengeance.
This time he claimed the allegations – which he attributed to “disgruntled associates” – had been investigated. In a statement provided to a local newspaper, Miller said a subcommittee of the National Leadership Conference convened at the request of those making the allegations against him. Miller suggested he was threatened with exposure to the Christian media unless he attended the inquiry arranged by his accusers. The subcommittee recommended he participate in at least six months of counseling and rehabilitation at a Florida facility – a recommendation that does not appear to support Miller’s claim that he was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
Miller agreed to attend the facility, but left before completing the program.
After the allegations resurfaced, Miller said he went through extreme emotional distress that prompted him to voluntarily remove himself from church work for a period. Miller further claimed that in October 1988, a committee of the Apostolic Christian Church Inc. ruled there had been no finding of sexual immorality on his part.
It sounded legit. However, the Latter Rain Pentecostals directory identified the organization as Apostolic Christian Churches International, Inc. – which was founded in the 1980s as the Gloryland Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International.
“The present name was adopted in 1988,” the directory noted. “It is a charismatic church that emphasizes the fivefold ministry of Ephesians 4:11, and thus employs a hierarchical structure consisting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.”
Documents on file with the S.C. Secretary of State’s office gave the date of incorporation as February 1, 1988. The address is 260 Dunbarton Drive, Florence, S.C. – the address of the Gloryland complex built by Florence Tabernacle Inc. under the direction of Wayne Miller.
If this was an attempt to make it appear as though the allegations had been independently reviewed, nothing could be further from the truth. This was another organization founded by Wayne Miller.
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Here's a health Carolina.
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) November 3, 2024
FOREVER TO THEE! pic.twitter.com/MG4f0P9kkX
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When WPDE restated the allegations in a news report years later amidst the land battle, not only did the television station receive the expected barrage of calls and letters from supporters, but Miller told station employees those who targeted him would personally pay for the decision to air the segment. The Florence Morning News reported the contents of a letter Miller wrote to the station’s general manager.
“Maybe sickness, loss of a loved one, something mortally painful – but it will come back,” Miller wrote. “It will come back on the one who prompted your reporter to do a number on Wayne Miller.”
The Air Force authority, too, received the full complement of irate communications any time they did not see things the preacher’s way. In what became a familiar pattern, each refusal was met with angry, confrontational backlash from Miller and his supporters.
“The property is the Lord’s,” Miller wrote. “It has been dedicated to Him. Kings rise and fall and so do (air base) authorities.”
Miller accused the authority of breaking the law by not giving him the land. He claimed the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) endorsed his request and ordered the Air Force to give the land to him. It was a bit of fanciful thinking since the USDOE clearly lacked the authority to tell the Air Force what to do with its own land.
The occurrences of backlash from Miller and his followers prompted one authority member to remark “this is not a very nice group of people.”
In the end, Miller’s bid prevailed and the Cathedral Baptist Church purchased 803 Howard Avenue in Myrtle Beach – the former base chapel. But, Miller wanted more. He requested an additional 10 to 15 acres for dormitories and a playground. Once again his plan was to obtain the additional property for free. The authority refused to hand over the valuable property to Miller’s unaccredited, private Christian school – saying it was not in the best interest of the community to do so.
According to Horry County records, the deed for the air force property was issued to Cathedral Baptist Church on September 28, 1995 for $280,000.
In a second transaction dated August 2003, Cathedral Baptist Church purchased .816 acres of former Air Force land for $262,000. In a mortgage filed in Horry County on the same day, Miller was able to borrow $802,400 using both of the parcels purchased from the federal government as collateral. In 2013, Solid Rock Ministries purchased the old Air Force chapel from Cathedral Baptist Church for $300,000. According to Horry County, the real estate has a current market value of $2,257,307.
Despite Miller’s early and abiding ambitions to expand further, the growth he envisioned as a young man and church founder of the 1970s never quite materialized. While he managed to evade serious consequences like those that befell Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, his dream – like their dream for Heritage USA – remains unfinished.
Stay tuned to FITSNews for much more on Miller as his legacy continues to come into clearer focus…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Callie Lyons is a journalist, researcher and author. Her 2007 book ‘Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal’ was the first to cover forever chemicals and their impact on communities – a story later told in the movie ‘Dark Waters.’ Her investigative work has been featured in media outlets, publications, and documentaries all over the world. Lyons also appears in ‘Citizen Sleuth’ – a 2023 documentary exploring the genre of true crime.
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