"And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." - ACTS 6:8
Pardon me Pastor, but may I have a word with you about the late brother Stephen? You know Stephen; the good brother who was the first martyr of the New Testament Church of the Lord Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) as recorded in Acts chapters 6 & 7. Stephen sat among the apostles from the very beginning and was chosen by these discerning men to be one of the first seven deacons, but the LORD had chosen him for much more. In the midst of all these powerful believers and great apostles was a man "full of faith and power" who "did great wonders and miracles" just like them but they didn't recognize or "sanction" him for his God ordained ministry (as I was once told I needed to be long after already being well seasoned and experienced in the ministry more so than the presumptuous "sanctioning" pastor). They did not fast and pray to choose the deacons based solely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the church at Antioch would later do before sending out Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:2-3. Instead, they picked Stephen along with others to only "serve tables" based on the choice of people in need who they felt were a distraction from the narrow focus they had on their own ministries early on.