Academy Award-winning Hollywood actor Denzel Washington was baptized at a church in New York City and officially received his ministry license.
On December 21, the 69-year-old actor was baptized at The First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Eastern New York. The church livestreamed the service on Facebook.
Following his baptism, he addressed the congregation, saying, “In one week, I turn 70. It took a while, but I’m finally here.
Washington shared a memory from when he was 20, recalling an encounter with a woman named Ruth Green in his mother’s beauty parlor. “She said, ‘Boy, you are going to travel the world and preach to millions of people. She wouldn’t even spell the word prophecy. My mother wrote the word prophecy,” he remembered.
He added, “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.”
Expressing gratitude for his wife, Pauletta Washington, who supported him from the congregation, he stated, “To God be the glory. Hallelujah! 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's upbringing was deeply rooted in faith, as his father, the Rev. Denzel Hayes Washington Sr., was a Pentecostal minister, and his mother, Lennis, was heavily involved in church activities. He noted in a November essay for Esquire that he grew up in the church but didn’t fully understand the significance of altar calls and people being saved when he was young.
He recalled, “The biggest moment” of his life happened at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, where he was introduced to the church by actor and director Robert Townsend.
“Things I said about God when I was a little boy, just reciting them in church along with everybody else, I know now,” he remarked. “God is real. God is love. God is the only way. God is the true way. God blesses.”
Washington emphasized his commitment to sharing his faith, stating, “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.” He also expressed that he was “unafraid” of public reaction to his faith, adding, “I don’t care what anyone thinks.”
Last month, Washington shared his experience of encountering 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.'” Upon turning, he pulled out his phone and captured what appeared to be a face in the clouds.
Recalling the situation at the time, he stated, “The Bible says we will see like through a mirror darkly, but then face to face,” quoting 1 Corinthians 13:12.
