Denzel Washington is celebrating a big moment for him and his faith. The Oscar-winning actor, 69, was baptized and received a minister's license at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in New York on Saturday in a service broadcast on Facebook.
"We celebrate the addition of Minister Denzel Washington into the clergy, having received his minister's license in the Church of God in Christ today, in a truly uplifting moment," Archbishop Christopher Bryant wrote on Facebook, where he shared a photo of Washington's baptism.
In remarks at the end of the ceremony, Washington remembered how his mother told him, "about the eighth or ninth time I lost an Academy Award," that "man gives the award, God gives the reward." He went on to recall that a woman named Ruth Green, who was "known to have the gift of prophecy," predicted when he was 20 that he would "travel the world and preach to millions of people."
"Fifty years later ... if (God) can do this for me, there's nothing he can't do for you," he said. "The sky literally is the limit, and there's no limit to the sky. God is good all the time."
Washington, whose father was a pastor for the Church of God in Christ, continued that he is "thankful for all that God has given me in 70 years," including a "loving, faithful wife." His wife Pauletta Washington joined him for the service. He closed by saying that "anything and everything I can do, I will do" for God.
usatoday.com