Luke sets the scene by listing the Antioch church's leaders, at once spiritually gifted (prophets and teachers) and multiculturally and socioeconomically diverse. Barnabas, a Levite from Cyprus (4:36), labors alongside Simeon, a black man (with the nickname Niger), and Lucius, a Roman from Cyrene in North Africa (compare 11:20). Manaen, who in his youth was chosen as a companion to a prince, Herod Antipas, ministers with Saul, a Pharisee from Cilicia in southeast Asia Minor (22:3; Phil 3:5).

This leadership roll is actually a list of potential candidates for missionary service, for those who head and complete it are called by the Spirit to such work (13:2). And today, the "apostolic" function—crosscultural pioneer church planting among unreached peoples—is still the highest calling (Rom 15:20; 1 Cor 12:28; 2 Tim 1:11). Will the church give its "best and brightest" to this calling?