Denzel Washington gets baptized, receives ministry license: 'It took a while, but I’m finally here'
Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington was baptized at a church in New York City over the weekend and officially received his ministry license — an event he revealed was prophesied decades ago.
The 69-year-old “Gladiator II” actor was baptized at The First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Eastern New York over the weekend, which livestreamed the service on Facebook.
“In one week, I turn 70. It took a while, but I’m finally here,” he said in an emotional address to the congregation following the baptism.
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The actor revealed that when he was 20, he was sitting in his mom's beauty parlor when he encountered a woman named Ruth Green.
“She said, ‘Boy, you are going to travel the world and preach to millions of people,’” he recalled. “She wouldn’t even spell the word prophecy. My mother wrote the word prophecy ... 50 years later, look at God. If He can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you. The sky literally is the limit and there’s no limit to the sky.”
Washington then expressed his gratitude for his "loving, faithful wife," Pauletta Washington, who was there supporting him from the congregation.
"To God be the glory. Hallelujah!" he continued. "Anything I can do, I will do for this church, the Almighty. I just want to be in that number when the saints go marching in."
Washington has been outspoken about his faith throughout his career; his father, the Rev. Denzel Hayes Washington Sr., was a Pentecostal minister, and his mother, Lennis, was heavily involved in church activities. Growing up, he was surrounded by the teachings of the Bible and the rhythms of church life.
In a November essay for Esquire, the actor revealed he grew up in the church, but after witnessing altar calls and “people being saved,” he “didn’t really know” what was happening when he was young.
The “biggest moment” of his life happened at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, which he was turned onto by actor and director Robert Townsend, he said.
“Things I said about God when I was a little boy, just reciting them in church along with everybody else, I know now,” he said in the essay. “God is real. God is love. God is the only way. God is the true way. God blesses.”
He added, “It’s my job to lift God up, to give Him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I speak to the rest of my life understands that He is responsible for me.”
Washington added that he was “unafraid” of the public's reaction to his faith, adding, “I don’t care what anyone thinks.”
“See, talking about the fear part of it — you can’t talk like that and win Oscars,” he said at the time. “You can’t talk like that and party. You can’t say that in this town.”
In a 2021 interview with The Christian Post, Washington shared how, in a society rife with division and destructive content, he wants to highlight stories that exemplify true sacrifice, faith and heroism.
“In this day and age, you know, it's tough,” the Academy Award-winner told CP. “There's so many negative influences out there; social media, obviously, all the obvious ones, but the enemy is the enemy. So we are affected by what's outside of us, but it magnifies or accelerates what's really inside of us.”
“We're such a divided country right now,” he added. “We are the United States, in theory, not so much in practice. But in theory.”
Last month, the actor opened up about the moment when he saw the face of God.
“I was on a yacht listening to music and praying, and there was a song on called ‘The Face of God,'” Washington said. “And I prayed, ‘Lord, everyone’s singing about the face of God, and I want to see Your face.’ And then I heard, ‘Turn to your left.'”
The actor said he immediately turned and pulled out his phone to take a picture of what appeared to be a face in the clouds.
Washington referenced 1 Corinthians 13:12: "The Bible says we will see like through a mirror darkly, but then face to face," he said.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
