8 Lumina News — Your Coastal Community Newspaper since May 2002 Feb. 25–Mar. 3, 2010 Coach finds sweet success behind pulpit

By Jenny Yarborough church hasn’t had for more than By Jan. 10, Louthan, his wife Staff Writer two years. Amy and their three children had Former senior pastor, Danny moved into their new home— Not long ago, the tall and slender Hawkins, left his position at Wrightsville Beach—and Louthan Keith Louthan was huddled on the WBBC after serving 26 years, was behind the pulpit. court with his basketball team. when he was called to work for the Just two days later, he became For 15 years, Louthan was a high North Carolina Baptist Children’s involved in the planning of the school math teacher in Georgia. Home. Thus the church was given Haiti Loop Walk along with other He also served as head basketball the duty of appointing a new clergy missions and said he was amazed coach and as a football coach for member. at the energy of the members who the school. Luckily, within the congrega- had been without a senior pastor Louthan said he always knew he tion were a handful of former for such a long time. wanted to be a teacher. Even in the pastors and retired missionar- Louthan said his approach for eighth grade, when asked to pick ies. They served as temporary preaching is not unlike the approach a profession to shadow for a day, replacements until the church hired he took as a teacher and as a coach. Louthan decided to follow a kin- interim, Roger Underwood while He said he keeps in mind that the dergarten teacher. the seven elected members of the people in the pews are just like stu- Today, Louthan is still teaching pastor search committee reviewed dents in the classroom and play- lessons. Only now, he’s behind hundreds of resumes for hopeful ers on the bench—some are eager, Staff photo by Joshua Curry the pulpit at Wrightsville Beach pastors seeking a home close to some need to be motivated. Former high school basketball coach Pastor Keith Louthan joined the Wrightsville Baptist Church (WBBC) Sunday the shore. “What will benefit me the most Beach Baptist Church in mid-January. mornings, performing marriage After narrowing down the field of is the time I’ve spent sitting in the ceremonies on the occasional competition, the committee made pew,” the pastor said, speaking Friday and Saturday and provid- a trip to Fayetteville, Ga. to get a about his later-in-life decision to new path, but all in all, his call to nity to a meet-and-greet reception ing a helping hand throughout real feel for a prospect who had go to seminary. Wrightsville Beach was a winning for Pastor Louthan and his fam- the community each day serving recently graduated from the New He said his entire family sac- shot. ily in the WBBC fellowship hall, as senior pastor—something the Orleans Baptist Seminary School. rificed so that he could take a The church invites the commu- March 6, 2-4 p.m. History sleeps where footsteps tread

By Jenny Yarborough intertwine. Jacksonville, NC to Jacksonville, Opala’s efforts are leading to the UNCW through the end of the Staff Writer On , sit remnants of Fla.) and is based on preservation of this history, unique month and travel to various schools a British slave castle that operated rice. to two lands so far apart. He has until the AAHF’s museum is fully between 1668 and 1807. Its stone More of the people were already linked African-Americans completed. The Bunce Island The ground beneath our feet walls, now crumbling and disfig- sent from Bunce Island to the like of “Grey’s exhibit is the first unit of work pur- breathes the history of our ances- ured, are surpassed by the foliage southeastern coast of the U.S. than Anatomy” and to chased for the African American tors—places in Wilmington pre- and root systems of native plants anywhere else in the world. Bunce Island. Heritage Museum (North Fourth served—so the same ground masking the place where atroci- It was well known that the Gullah Opala said, the people of the and Harnett streets), said AAHF of West Africa were pros when it Jewish Holocaust are remembered President John Battle. came to rice propagation. The peo- because of the photographs taken Battle said, “The exhibit does not ple of Sierra Leone knew how to but there are no photographs to include a lot of Wilmington history grow every type of rice known to illustrate the African holocaust. but we know that there is a direct man and could grow it from the dry For this reason, he has spent hun- connection.” desert to the moist jungle. This is dreds upon hundreds of hours at In fact, Opala said an African where the British—knowing the the castle on Bunce Island, in order American by the name of Thomas crop could bring wealth—came in to recreate its essence and capture Peters who escaped slavery during search of slaves. its story for those who are such a the American Revolution and went On Sunday, Feb. 21, Professor part of it. on to found the capital of Sierra Joseph Opala of James Madison He has curated traveling exhib- Leone——was born in University visited the University its—one for each involved state. Wilmington, N.C. of North Carolina Wilmington’s North Carolina’s has been on And, although most rice was (UNCW) Randall Library to speak display in Randall Library since grown and harvested in S.C. and on this subject, which he has dedi- Feb. 1. This exhibit, purchased Ga., we too in Wilmington, just cated the last 30 years of his life to by the African American Heritage along the Cape Fear—grew rice researching. Foundation (AAHF) will stay at crops of our own. Staff photo by Allison Breiner Potter Professor Joseph Opala of speaks about the history of Bunce Island, Sierra Leone and its connection to the Wilmington area on Sunday, Feb. 21, at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Randall Library. NHC SCIENCE FAIR WINNER

where the ancestors once walked ties were committed. What is left and where they danced—where of a jetty still juts from the edge of the brothers and sisters of the races the building into the shore. This is broke apart and came together. where nearly 30,000 Africans last Within the Great Bulge of West set foot on their native soil—the Africa, in the small country of point of no return—before being Sierra Leone, there is a story that shipped across the Atlantic, where lies 17 miles deep, within a harbor they were branded, chained to one on an island about two city-blocks another and purchased for their long and one city-block wide. Here, skills in the cultivation of rice. on this tiny plot of land surrounded The direct link between us, in by water is a place where African, the low country south (stretching American and European histories the southeastern coastline from

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