By Shirley Searight

Luverne native and pastor Johnny L. Searight is the son of Ida Mae and Arthur Searight. He attended Woodford Avenue High School through the 11th grade, and when schools were integrated during his senior year, he graduated from Luverne High School. 

In his early years, Searight developed a love for basketball. He made one from scraps and taught himself to play. 

With the help and support of Lloyd Youngblood, he became an outstanding athlete in that sport. The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) has Searight ranked No. 5 in the state for scoring the highest points in a single game (69) while at Woodford. 

At Luverne High, Searight led the state in rebounding with 618 rebounds for an average of 21 per game. He was also selected for the state all-star team and voted the 1971 Class 2A player of the year. 

Following a call to ministry, Searight preached his trial sermon and received his license to preach in the summer of 1972. After graduating high school, he attended A&T State University for one year and then transferred to Alabama Christian College, now Faulkner University. 

Searight was the second-highest basketball scorer in the entire conference, averaging 22 points per game, setting a school record of 59% in field goal accuracy at Faulkner, averaging 17.2 rebounds per game. 

After graduation, Searight attended Gardner-Webb University and played basketball for the Running Bulldogs, averaging 16.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. He earned National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-District honors and was MVP of the Asheville Optimist Tip Off. 

In 2019, Johnny was inducted into the Gardner-Webb University Athletic Hall of Fame for his contribution to their basketball program. 

Searight married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Parks, who is also a native of Luverne. 

After graduating from Gardner-Webb University, he went to work at Lowe’s of Gaffney, South Carolina and was later transferred to Shelby, North Carolina where he worked his way up to become manager of the electrical and plumbing departments. 

Searight was ordained as a traveling elder in the CME Church in 1978 and became pastor of his first church that same year. He has been pastoring for 46 years. 

In addition to pastoring, Searight has previously served on numerous directors’ boards and currently serves on boards for the YMCA, Christian Service Organization of Gardner-Webb Divinity School, the CORE group, the Searight PACE Program, the Committee on Ministry Board for the CME Church and Gardner-Webb University. 

Searight said he feels that the Lord has called him to use his skills, resources and personal contacts to help churches in physical need as well as spiritual need. He has led the three churches he pastored in multiple projects, guiding one church in the construction of a pastor’s study and a fellowship/dining hall with classrooms and bathrooms. 

In 1996, God inspired him to spearhead a “Run-for-Christ” fundraising campaign to build a new sanctuary for an area church damaged by a fire. In 2016, Searight helped another church add bathrooms, a pastor’s study onto the church and completely remodel the sanctuary. 

In 2021, the Searights were reflecting on how much God had blessed them and brought them both from being raised on a farm in Luverne to where they were. Realizing a call to invest in the lives of young people, just as others had invested in their lives, the pair set about creating educational opportunities for students from similar backgrounds. 

The couple established the Searight Leadership Certificate and the Searight Multicultural Leadership Award at their alma mater and the university named its PACE Program after the Searights. 

Inspired by the words of Horace Mann, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some  victory for humanity,” Searight the pastor of Jones Tabernacle CME Church in Lawndale, North Carolina, where he has been pastor for nine years. He said he will be forever thankful for the foundation that he received while growing up in Luverne, for the many people who invested in his life and most of all for Jesus, who has been the guiding force in his life. 

He and Shirley reside in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. They have been married for 51 years. They have one daughter, triplet granddaughters and a grandson.