Southern Arkansas University’s 21st Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Memorial March and Ceremony is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Monday, January 18, 2016.
The march will begin at the former Miller’s Cafeteria parking lot on Vine Street at 5 p.m., and will proceed down University Street to the SAU Reynolds Center. The ceremony will begin around 5:30 p.m. in Foundation Hall. The community is encouraged to participate in the march and attend the ceremony.
The keynote speaker for the ceremony this year will be Rev. Ronald A. Matheney, the founder and pastor of Johnson Memorial Ministries in Camden. The 
ministry is just over four years old and growing.
Rev. Matheney is a strong believer in social justice and desires to motivate and empower others to use their gifts for the betterment of the community. With this as his goal, he has developed new home buyers and health programs for low income families. He has worked in soup kitchens, prison ministries, coached children’s sports, and instituted voter registration drives, managed a serious offender youth home, helped build homes for Habitat for Humanity, and has served on too many boards and committees to mention. He has been a spiritual leader for more than three decades, meeting the needs of thousands of people throughout his life-long work as a pastor, evangelist, and community activist.
Matheney is a native of Crossett, Arkansas. He is the third son of seven children born to the late Bishop and Mrs. R. E. Matheney. A very young, idealistic and deeply spiritual Matheney was called to the ministry at age 16. With a burning desire to touch the lives of others and make a difference in his community and the world, he began a campus ministry at his high school where he also excelled in athletics. He excelled as a running back in football and ran in track, which included winning the state decathlon while a junior in high school. His talents earned him a football scholarship to the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, where he played for Lou Holtz as a true freshman.
Additionally, while at the UofA, Ronald co-founded an interdenominational campus ministry, Christian Center, and traveled across Arkansas speaking to clubs, banquets, churches, youth conferences and Fellowship of Christian Athletes functions.
Rev. Matheney is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, where he obtained a Master of Divinity Degree in May of 2001. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Sciences from Troy State University with continued education in Hebrew studies at Austin Theological Seminary.
Rev. Matheney was initially ordained in the Church of God in Christ denomination. In July of 2005, Rev. Matheney accepted a call to serve as the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Jerome, Idaho. He is the former Pastor of Chapel in the Valley Presbyterian Church, in Swan Valley, Idaho, where he served for three years. He is also the former Associate Pastor and Director of Christian Education, Visitation and Evangelism at First Presbyterian Church of Idaho Falls and former Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Jerome, Idaho, for nearly seven years.
Rev. Matheney is happily married to Helen Johnson Matheney. Together they are the parents of six children, ages 18-32, and grandparents to two adorable grand-daughters.
