Alma 6

In Zarahemla, the church was established and Alma ordains more priests and elders "by the laying on of hands according to the order of God." Ordination has and will always be done the laying on of hands. It is richly symbolic of the Lord laying his own hands on the head of those being ordained. You can sense the sacredness represented by the hands on your head when you are set apart, blessed, or ordained. In the valley of Gideon, (Gideon was the person who was going to slay King Noah until they saw the Lamanites coming. He also was the one in his old age who was slain by Nehor.) Alma goes to the people of the church their and preaches to them. We see what he says to them in the next chapter. You wonder how badly the church was in apostasy. Was it a majority of the people or just a large number? It must have been a significant number.