6:8 Although the Seven were appointed to an administrative role within the church as a whole, they may already have had a wider ministry within their own Hellenistic circles (still assuming that they were Hellenists), so that the picture we now have of Stephen as a preacher need come as no surprise (see Hengel, Acts, p. 74; Dunn, Unity, p. 270). He is described as a man full of God’s grace—a phrase capable of bearing the double sense of enjoying God’s favor (cf. 18:27) and of being gracious himself toward others (cf. Luke 4:22). Stephen appears to have been a man of great personal charm. He was also an effective preacher (cf. v. 10), whose ministry was accompanied by signs of divine power in the great wonders and miraculous signs (see notes on 2:22) that he did among the people. This litt…