In his sermon from Acts 7:54-8:4, Bro. Garrett Bozeman makes several points, including:
Stephen, sentenced to death for proclaiming the Gospel, saw a vision of everything he had to gain rather than seeing all he had to lose
death has no power over believers any more...the most it can do is usher us into the presence of Jesus
Jesus used the death of Stephen both as the launching point for the spread of the Gospel beyond Jerusalem and to begin preparing Saul (Paul) for his future ministry