Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business (Acts 6:3).

     They were lined up expectantly that Sunday morning, dozens of ordination candidates, ready to submit their lives to the Lord as full-time ministers. They believed that God could use them to demonstrate the gospel of the Kingdom in a way that could bring in the endtime harvest. These were business and professional leaders who had discovered that “their businesses were their ministries” and they were committing them—all of them—to God. Seldom have I seen such a serious, radically committed, spiritually pumped group of people in my life.

     As I looked at them, I recalled the recommendations, a required part of the ordination process, that had come from their work assocates, many of whom were non-Christians. One person wrote of their associate: “He has restored the good name of Christianity in our workplace.” Another, who wrote of the mother and her two adult daughters who all work at the same company, said: “The word is out that things happen when you get on the McKain girls’ “prayer list.” A man had written about his boss, a woman who ran a sales department for a high tech company in the Silicon Valley. He described it as “a high-pressure environment” and said she “would not allow him to tell half truths.” Her commitment to integrity in the marketplace had caused him to “start thinking about spiritual things.”

     Seeing these candidates that morning, I realized they were not really a new breed. Rather, they were a newly released group of ministers who fit into the categories of many individuals from the Old and New Testaments who had found God’s call and lived it out in the context of their daily work. Here was a group of men and women who were ready to take on California's Silicon Valley. They were no longer content to just work; they were going to minister. The weapons of their warfare were intimacy with God, intercession, integrity, moral character, passion for the lost, and compassion for the hurting. They were committed to building relationships with those who needed Jesus, and they carried one additional powerful weapon in their hands—blessing. As Ed Silvoso often says, ‘In the celestial game of poker, a hand of blessing beats a hand of cursing every time.” And so here they were, without judgment or wrath, having completed a year of training, ready to commit their lives to serving as ministers in the marketplace. Later in this book, we will speak more of the training they received.

Blurting the Truth

    The idea for the ordination had come about quite unexpectectly. What I had thought to be a couple of messages to business and professional leaders about making their business their ministry, had turned into an ongoing series of messages. In the middle of one of these, I was proclaiming, “You are in the ministry. The call of God is for all of us. God did not call just a select few. He has called you. Your business is your ministry.” My next words were totally unplanned, but I believe they were from God. “Since you are called of God into the ministry of business, we should ordain you. In fact, this year we will ordain the kings.”

     As I realized later what I had said, I also realized I had no idea how to go about such a process. We had ordained a number of pastors and missionaries; I had a paradigm for that kind of ordination. But how do you ordain the business and professional person? And of even greater importance, is it biblical? These questions ran through my mind without an answer. Still, I believed that God had prompted those words, and as I began to study again the biblical concept of ordination, I became even more convinced. Yes, God really does have a very special plan for the business and professional Christian, and it is quite appropriate from a biblical context to ordain, to set apart those that are answering that call.

Ordination in the Bible

     Ordination is something that is quite common in the church today. In fact, in the United States, it is very helpful for those in priestly ministry when it comes tax time. And yet, when the Bible uses the word ordain, it can refer to a thing as often as to a person. For instance, we are told in Psalm 8:2 that the Lord has “ordained strength” out of the mouths of babes to silence the enemy and the avenger. Also we are told that feasts are ordained (see 1 Kings 12:32-33), and we read that Jeremiah was ordained a prophet (see Jer. 1:5). Prophets, feasts, and strength—all ordained by God to fulfill His specially designed purpose.

     In the New Testament we find that Jesus was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead (see Acts 10:42; 17:31), and that God has ordained His special, hidden wisdom (see 1 Cor. 2:7). In First Corinthians 7:17, Paul used the word ordain to speak of a directive he was giving to all the churches.

     The Greek word for ordain is often translated “appoint,” as we find in Acts 6:3. The apostles were having problems with the food program, so they set aside seven men to make sure that all were treated fairly. This story, along with the one about Saul and Barnabas in Acts 13:1-3, are two of the most commonly used to illustrate ordination today.

     One night in worship, the Lord led me to Acts chapter 6, which shows a biblical way to ordain the kings.

Five Principles for Ordaining Kings

Who are these men? We must determine it from the text in Acts 6.

1.  We know that they were not apostles.

2.  It is obvious that they were members of the church, because the aposties said to “seek out from among you” (Acts 6:3).

3.  It is likely, and I believe a very fair interpretation of the text, to say that they were businessmen in

Jerusalem. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible refers to Stephen as “The Spirit-Filled Business Man.”

     Why do I make this point? Because I believe it is important for us to see that these are not clergy types at all. They were men from the church, men who had their training in a field that had nothing to do with a priestly type of ministry. In addition to that, the apostles sought them out to assist in a business type of activity. The apostles recognized that their own calling was in preaching and prayer. In the same manner, they recognized a calling on these men that was in the area of business; a gifting or anointing for business was evident in their Iives.

     These seven men are commonly called “deacons,” but that title is not evident in the text. I have heard for years the phrase, “the seven deacons,” but when I searched the Bible for evidence that these were “deacons,” I could not find it. I assume someone started calling them deacons because that title corresponded with the idea that all ministry must be local church-based. If they are deacons, then we have a place to fit them in our thinking. However, the term deacon is nowhere applied to them. Acts 21:8 refers to “...the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven....”

      So while they were not deacons, they did qualify for a setting aside, or appointment to a special ministry. What I began to see were the qualifications for ordination into the ministry of business and the professions. Acts chapter 6 lists five criteria for ordination. These are:

1.  “Seek out from among you.” It is necessary that we ordain those that we have a spiritual authority over, those within our own body.

2.  “Of good reputation.” Since this is for ordination in the marketplace, the reputation must extend to the workplace as well as the Christian community.

3.  “Full of the Holy Spirit.” Not just baby believers; and not carnal.

4.  “Full of wisdom.” Not having made multiple mistakes in the life of business.

5.  “Full of faith.” Not people who doubt God, nor who vacillate back and forth in their faith.

Application for Ordination

     From those biblical criteria for ordination, I developed an application for ordination into the marketplace ministry. Each of the candidates had to submit three recommendations attesting to his or her “good reputation”—especially in the context of the marketplace. Second, they were to state their involvement in our local congregation, including their commitment to tithing. The Bible speaks clearly about the tithe, and we did not want to ordain those that were not faithful to this principle. The other three points were to be covered within the applicant’s written testimony. The first section was to cover the experience of the filling of the Spirit and how this affected their ministry in the marketplace. The second would be regarding the insight God had given them concerning how they might be used to fulfill the coming marketplace revival. The last section would cover their faith in God’s power to bring about this revival.

The Ordination Ceremony

     On a December Sunday of that year, they stood before us, ready to be ordained. We had prepared very prayerfully for this day. On the platform of the sanctuary, we had placed a throne. Around it we poured kernels of corn, symbolic of the harvest, and placed purple bags filled with corn. These were symbolic of each candidate’s individual portion of the harvest. At the end of the service, each one would go to the throne, kneel down to receive the ordination from the Lord, and have their hands filled with commissioning from the Lord.

     Based on the model of King David, we would also give three anointings this morning. The first, like David’s anointing by Samuel, would be a recognition of the call of God. It would be administered by a medical doctor and his wife who serve the Lord in Asia. They anointed the candidates’ hands with oil. The pastors administered the second anointing, like David’s anointing over the house of Judah, by anointing their heads with oil. The final anointing was at the throne, and would correspond to David’s anointing over Israel. It was the actual launch into the ministry.

     As these men and women knelt at the throne to receive from the Lord, we sensed something was about to break forth in the heavenly realms. This was—is—a new day, a day when ministry is to be done by the entire Body of Christ. It is a day in which ministry is moved out of the church building and into the marketplace. The nameless, faceless crowd, Iike the 70 sent out by Jesus in Luke chapter 10, are coming. They are being released.

    And as you read this book, understand that you, too, can take part in bringing in this great harvest of souls. The call of God is for you.

Rich Marshall is the author of “God@Work” where this excerpt was taken from.  Rich has been a pastor for over 30 years. He and his wife, Wilma, are the founding pastors of Springs of Life Fellowship in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The Marshalls founded ROI, an inspirational and equipping ministry to the business community. Rich ministers full-time with ROI and conducts “Anointed for Business” seminars. He is also a founding member of Nehemiah Partners, a group of business and ministry leaders committed to rebuilding the biblical walls of commerce. Rich and Wilma live in San Jose, California USA.  GodisWorking.com.  

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