Stephen is martyred (Acts 7-8:1)

The vast majority of Acts 7 is the record of Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin.  In it, he traces the history of ancient Israel with emphasis on the experience of the Patriarchs and Moses.  He points out that the Israelites continually rejected what God was trying to do.  

This is all a buildup to his main point - the Sanhedrin was rejecting what God was doing just like the way the Israelites fought with Moses.  Here, the Sanhedrin rejected and killed God's latest messenger, Jesus.

The Sanhedrin lets Stephen give a long speech about the history of Israel, but this is opinion about Jesus angers the crowd.  The mob then drags Stephen outside and stones him.

While being stoned, Stephen has a vision of the open heavens with Jesus standing next to the throne of God.  Stephen also makes a few statements that were similar to when Jesus died on the cross.  He says:  "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" and for Jesus to not "hold this sin against them".   Then, Stephen dies.   On the cross, Jesus expressed similar things, but the order was reused in that the release of the spirit was the last thing Jesus said before dying.

Here, Stephen expresses similar mercy and compassion for those killing him as did Jesus.

Also, it contrasts the statements by the Pharisees when they took Jesus to Pilate.  The Pharisees told Jesu that they did not have the authority to execute anyone.  The stoning of Stephen shows that regardless if they had the authority or not, they still did it.

Finally, the stoning of Stephen is being supervised by Saul, the great persecutor.  We can probably infer that Saul was with the Sanhedrin when Stephen gave his speech.  He probably also had a role in inciting the violence.

Since he would later become Paul the apostle, one wonders if Stephen's prayer of forgiveness for Saul had any role in God later redeeming Saul.

Seven food distributors (Acts 6)

The distribution of the common food led to another problem.  The widows of the Greek Jews were being overlooked in the distribution of the food.

The apostles were probably managing both the input of money as well as its distribution to those in need.  Acts 5 showed that Peter at least supervised the collection of money.  They also were preaching and being thrown in jail, so no wonder the food distribution was falling through the cracks.

They choose seven people to manage the food distribution.  That way, the apostles could dedicate themselves to preaching and spreading the word.  The more famous of these seven men were Stephen and Philip.  The criteria for being one of the seven was to be full of Spirit and wisdom.  The apostles lay hands on the group

Note, this is another Philip, not Philip the Apostle who is listed in Acts 1:13.

In some ways, this parallels Moses instituting judges to handle minor disputes among the Israelites.  Moses delegated administrative duties as the group was too big to micromanage.  This is the same that is happening here.

The text follows Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power.  He not only does the food distribution, but performs miracles.  Since his job was to distribute food and he also did miracles, one wonders if one such miracle was the miraculous distribution of food, akin to Jesus feeding the 5,000.  However, the text is silent as to specific miracles.

Stephen catches the attention of enemies, who argue with Stephen.  He develops enemies who conspire against him.  He is arrested, taken before the Sanhedrin, and accused of blasphemy.

The story of Stephen also reaffirms that the miracles were not just limited to the apostles.  We previously saw this in Gospels when Jesus sent out the 72 and when they encountered someone who was casting out demons in Jesus' name, but was not part of the core disciples.

Similarly, martyrdom and persecution is not limited to the apostles.