Put some of thine honour upon him

Num 27:15-23
(15) And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying,
(16) Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
(17) Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
(18) And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
(19) And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
(20) And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.

The verses before this text were God telling Moses that he could go look at the promised land but not enter because of what happened at the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. Yet we don't read of Moses whining and pleading for another chance. We don't see him trying to reason for his own cause but rather interceding for the people, something he made a habit of doing.
Moses knew the great need that Israel had for a leader. Moses also knew that Caleb and Joshua were the two oldest and likely two most respected men because they were the only ones from the previous generation allowed to enter. Joshua had been with Moses on the mount and was likely very well respected and anticipated as the leader. Moses had invested time, teaching and his wisdom on this man. Discipleship had been taking place but when the time came for the new leader to be appointed - Moses knew the call must be from God. Had Moses just said, "hey, this is the guy", we can well assume there would have been some questioning of his authority over time. The call of the leader must be of God and when God calls, He makes His choice apparent. We have in this situation the call from God for Joshua to lead. The call was given through Moses with specific directions for what to do in this wilderness ordination.
1) Lay thine hand upon him - shows the transfer of authority - the formal transfer of leadership as commanded by God from Moses to Joshua
2) Give him a charge in their sight - the expectations are set. The accountability standards are laid out. The people now know clearly what Joshua is responsible for in this crucial period for the children of Israel. You can read further account of this charge in Deut. 31
3) Put some of thine honour upon him - this was a sign of making Joshua a partner and colleague of Moses. Moses sign of approval, personal testimony perhaps of Joshua's faithfulness and the confidence that Moses had in him. This was an important factor in the people having confidence in him.
So here we have a model for the ordination of a pastor/missionary. An important note is that the leader invested in the one that was faithful, demonstrated the spiritual giftedness necessary for the task (God equips those He calls) and desired to be in that particular ministry. The chain of discipleship needs to be one where the one discipling should be basically multiplying themselves. In other words, the pastors need to be investing their time in the future pastors and missionaries and the Sunday School teachers in future Sunday School teachers etc so that we are maximizing our investment of time, wisdom, experience and skill sets. Although Moses had spent 40yrs as a shepherd, he wasn't training shepherds - since his position had changed, those he discipled changed. Pastors and missionaries in training need the time and investment of those already in that position, both in the classroom and out.

Of course there is no one clear pattern, a common pattern is as follows

• God changes man through salvation
• As man comes to know God better through prayer, the Word of God and teaching/preaching - his desires become more and more in line with God's desires (Jer. 9:23-24; Ps. 37:4)
• Man becomes skilled in the Word through the working of the Spirit and personal discipline, he is faithful in the congregation, bold in witness, a leader in his family as he draws nigh to God. There is a manifestation of the charactersistics of a pastor as laid out in 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1
• The Pastor invests in this man through teaching, sharing ministry experience, seasons of prayer, fellowship etc
• God calls the man to ministry (This may take place almost anywhere after salvation but it does take place)
• Pastor acknowledges this through attesting to the spiritual gifts God has given, the faithfulness, zeal ajnd conversation of the individual and the testimony of the man and his family. This is where we would see a group assembled for an ordination committee. (Putting his hand on him)
• Pastor publicly charges him in the roles and expectations of the ministry. Encouragement, challenge, warning and blessings are shared. (Gives him a charge)
• Pastor recognizes/titles/ordains/certified/licenses (whatever) this man in a way that the congregation and community recognize that God has called him, he has trained and he has demonstrated the ability to yield to God and perform the requirements of the ministry (put some of thine honour upon him)

Moses likely had no greater joy than to see Joshua succeed him. This was his promised land and reward.