Ep. 415: Missionary Murder for Hire, Archbishop of Canterbury Resigns

MinistryWatch Podcast

On today’s program, the wife of slain missionary Beau Shroyer has been arrested in connection with his death—investigators suspect she hired the man she was having an affair with to kill her husband. We’ll have details.

And, a Pennsylvania church trying to disassociate from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church has been charged for sharing information with MinistryWatch. We’ll take a look.

Plus, South Carolina pastor John-Paul Miller—whose wife Mica Miller died by suicide earlier this year—has been hit with an assault charge just days after FBI raided his house.

But first, the Church of England head Justice Welby has resigned over his handling of a sexual abuse case. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned Tuesday.

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Danica Kirka, Jessica Eturralde, Kim Roberts, Tony Mator, Marissa Greene, Shannon Cuthrell, and Brittany Smith.

Until next time, may God bless you.

MANUSCRIPT

FIRST SEGMENT

Warren:

Hello everybody. I’m Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Christina:

And I’m Christina Darnell, in for Natasha Cowden this week, also coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. And we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast.

Warren:

On today’s program, the wife of slain missionary Beau Shroyer has been arrested in connection with his death—investigators suspect she hired the man she was having an affair with to kill her husband. We’ll have details.

And, a Pennsylvania church trying to disassociate from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church has been charged for sharing information with MinistryWatch. We’ll take a look.

Plus, South Carolina pastor John-Paul Miller—whose wife Mica Miller died by suicide earlier this year—has been hit with an assault charge just days after FBI raided his house.

Christina:

But first, the Church of England head Justice Welby has resigned over his handling of a sexual abuse case.

Warren:

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned Tuesday.

The resignation came after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.

Pressure on Welby had been building since Thursday, when release of the inquiry’s findings kindled anger about a lack of accountability at the highest reaches of the church.

Welby’s resignation comes against the backdrop of widespread historical sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report by the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse found that the Church of England had become “a place where abusers could hide.”

Christina:

Welby’s supporters had argued that he had been instrumental in changing the culture of the church since he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013.

Warren:

But it was an investigation into crimes that began long before that date that ultimately led to his downfall.

The church on Thursday released the results of an independent investigation into Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa beginning in the 1970s.

The 251-page report of the Makin Review concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, soon after he became Archbishop of Canterbury.

Christina:

Our next story is a sad and strange tale involving American missionaries in Angola.

Warren:

Investigators suspect the wife of a slain missionary in the West African country of Angola was the “mastermind” of his killing and was having an affair with one of the men she hired to kill him. She allegedly promised him thousands of dollars in exchange for slaying her husband.

For three years, Beau and Jackie Shroyer, both 44, and their five children had lived in the “remote bush” of Angola. On October 25, police found Beau Shroyer brutally stabbed to death in his vehicle outside Lubango, where the family resided in a walled compound.

Christina:

A spokesperson for Angola’s Criminal Investigation Service called Jackie the “mastermind” behind his murder, which CIS discovered was an organized plot involving three men paid to kill the missionary.

Warren:

Furthermore, the spokesperson added that investigators have “strong suspicions” Jackie was having an affair with one of the men, 24-year-old Bernardino Elias, who the family had employed as a security guard.

According to police, Jackie allegedly promised to pay three men around $50,000 to kill her husband. The statement says the three men lured Beau to a remote area by pretending they were having car issues and stabbed him to death. In her statement, Jackie claimed she had stepped into the woods to use the bathroom at the time of the attack.

At the crime scene, detectives reportedly recovered an American-made knife belonging to the bodyguard. The knife had been a gift to Elias from Beau Shroyer.

Authorities suggest the alleged motive for the crime was driven by Jackie Shroyer’s romantic relationship with Elias and a desire to remain in Angola, where Beau Shroyer was nearing the end of his missions work.

Beau and Jackie Shroyer have been longtime members of the Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. In 2021, the couple moved to a remote Angolan village with their five children to conduct youth outreach with the evangelical mission organization SIM USA.

Lakes Area Vineyard and SIM released statements expressing sadness and grief.

Christina:

Warren, let’s take a quick break. When we return, a Evangelical Presbyterian Church faces a trial later this month for talking with MinistryWatch.

I’m Christina Darnell, along with my co-host Warren Smith, and we’ll have that story and much more, after this short break.

BREAK

SECOND SEGMENT

Christina:

Welcome back. I’m Christina Darnell, along with my co-host Warren Smith, and you’re listening to the MinistryWatch podcast.

Next, the story we promised before the break.

Warren:

A congregation in western Pennsylvania is continuing its fight to leave the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) because of disagreements over “certain theological, social, and religious issues,” but the presbytery has now indicted the pastor and the elders and scheduled a trial for November 23.

Christina:

And MinistryWatch has become a part of this controversy.

Warren:

After MinistryWatch published an article about the EPC, the administrative commission (AC) of the Presbytery of the Alleghenies filed additional charges and an indictment against Pastor Nate Devlin and the Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church session (or board of elders). The trial could result in punishment ranging from admonition to excommunication.

Devlin is accused of contempt for refusing to comply with actions ordered by the AC, of slander in his social media posts calling the presbytery “tyrannical,” and of an intent to sow division and disparage the EPC when he forwarded communications to MinistryWatch to aid our reporting.

Christina:

The complaint cites Devlin’s sharing an email from the AC with MinistryWatch as “improper and a breach of the principles of I Corinthians 6.”

Warren:

MinistryWatch inquired how Devlin had violated I Corinthians 6, and AC representative Roger Rumer replied with a lengthy letter the commission sent to the presbytery’s churches explaining the ongoing charges against and interactions with Beverly Heights.

In the letter, the AC reiterated Devlin’s alleged violation of I Corinthians 6:1 as “unbecoming a pastor of the church of Jesus Christ,” but provided no explanation of how Devlin’s actions violated the verse.

The session and Devlin maintain their innocence and are preparing to plead not guilty at the trial.

Christina:

Our next story is a follow-up to the story of John-Paul and Mica Miller.

Warren:

Months after the suicide of Myrtle Beach Pastor John-Paul Miller’s wife sparked a public outcry and criminal investigation, police have filed their first charges.

But the charges don’t have anything to do with the original death. Rather, the alleged crime: tapping a protester’s hat with his cell phone.

Local news WBTW reports that on Wednesday (Nov. 6), the Solid Rock at Market Commons pastor was arrested after confronting a woman who chased him down outside his church while calling him names.

The woman, Sandra Karon, had been participating in a “Justice for Mica” protest against Miller, 44, who many blame for the April death of his wife, 30-year-old Mica Miller. She died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The protesters have been gathering every Sunday outside Solid Rock since May.

Video footage obtained by WBTW shows Miller turn around, approach Karon and point his phone in her face.

The protesters called police, who charged Miller with “assault / assault and battery 3^rd degree” and released him the next day on $776 bond with a hearing scheduled for Dec. 10.

The altercation came just four days after the FBI raided and removed items from Miller’s Myrtle Beach home.

Christina:

Up next is the story of congregants at Gateway Church in Dallas. Some of them are asking that their financial contributions be returned following scandal in that megachurch.

Warren:

Katherine Leach has been attending the nondenominational North Texas congregation for the past three years. She said she tithed to the church.

Then, on June 18, Gateway’s founder and senior pastor, Robert Morris, resigned after accusations made by an Oklahoma woman named Cindy Clemishire, who told the Wartburg Watch that Morris had sexually abused her on multiple occasions in the 1980s, starting when Clemishire was 12 years old.

Christina:

So Leach started asking questions, asking for a copy of the church’s bylaws, financial statements and how her tithes have been used.

Warren:

Leach is part of a group that has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gateway Church committed financial fraud with congregants’ tithes.

The suit alleges Morris and other Gateway leaders told their congregation that 15% of all tithes would go toward foreign missionary work. Leach and the suing congregants allege the promise wasn’t upheld and that they don’t know where the tithes — which could amount to more than $15 million annually — went.

Christina:

So what is the church saying?

Warren:

A spokesman for the church said he doesn’t comment on pending litigation. But on Oct. 5, Gateway church elder Tra Willbanks stood in the pulpit and told attendees that the church’s financials have been “independently audited since 2005” and assured them: “At this point we are not aware of any financial wrongdoing. We, your elders and church staff, understand and embrace the sacred and biblical duty we have to steward the dollars given to Gateway.”

The church is also in the process of joining the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and publishing its bylaws after they are updated, he said.

Christina:

Warren, we’re going to take another break. When we return, our lightning round of ministry news of the week.

I’m Christina Darnell, with my co-host Warren Smith. More in a moment.

BREAK

THIRD SEGMENT

Christina:

Welcome back. I’m Christina Darnell, with my co-host Warren Smith and you’re listening to the MinistryWatch Podcast.

Warren, we like to use this last segment as a sort of lightning round of shorter news briefs.

What’s up first?

Warren:

A year of cost cuts and selloffs is coming into view on Salem Media Group’s balance sheet. The Texas-based broadcasting giant—among the few Christian publicly traded companies—reported

a $6.6 million net loss in the third quarter, compared to -$31 million a year ago.

Revenue declined 7.5% year-over-year to $58.7 million, reflecting brand divestitures and advertising volatility in its broadcast and publishing businesses. However, those losses were partially offset by a 9.5% revenue jump from its digital media segment.

Salem slashed over $36 million in operating expenses since the third quarter of 2023, falling from $99 million to $63 million. The company has sold several radio stations, land and transmitter sites, and media brands to pay down its debts this year. Its liabilities now total $309 million as of Sep. 30, down from $323 million last December.

Christina:

And, of course, there are the Ministries Making A Difference.

Warren:

That’s your weekly column, Christina. So why don’t you take this one.

Christina:

Pathway Ministries in Illinois collected more than 150 coats as part of its coat drive at this year’s Hope Rising event.

Pathway Ministries, formerly known as Peoria Rescue Ministries, has a donor confidence score of 100 from MinistryWatch. That’s our top rating.

In October, a team with Heart for Lebanon visited a village in Southern Lebanon to distribute emergency aid packages to more than 300 families affected by the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people across the Middle East have been killed in the crisis, according to Mission Network News. In Lebanon, it’s estimated that 1.2 million people are displaced. Heart for Lebanon also has a donor confidence score of 100.

On September 24, Armenian-Iranian Pastor Anooshavan Avedian was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison in response to a group of international ministries crying out for his release. He served one year of a 10-year sentence after Iranian authorities stormed a church service held in his house. He was later convicted of “establishing and leading an illegal group.” International Christian Concern, Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, and Barnabas Aid had all raised concerns about his conviction and called for his release.

Christina:

Warren, any final thoughts before we go?

Warren:

Year end fundraising. Please be generous.

Christina:

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Danica Kirka, Jessica Eturralde, Kim Roberts, Tony Mator, Marissa Greene, Shannon Cuthrell, and Brittany Smith.

I’m Christina Darnell, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Warren:

And I’m Warren Smith, also in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Christina:

You’ve been listening to the MinistryWatch podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.