Superstar actor Denzel Washington received his minister’s license this month, surprising fans with a beautiful testimony following his baptism.
Washington was baptized December 21st at the Kelly Temple in New York City at the age of 69-years-old. “It took a while, but I’m finally here…If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you,” said Washington, according to Archbishop Christopher Bryant. “The sky is literally the limit.”
A post shared by Bryant on social media explained that he and his church “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.”
“In the same service, he received water baptism,” the post continued. “Both the baptism and the licensing took place at the Historic Kelly Temple in NYC, a place close to his heart. Denzel Washington attended this church as a child and testified to being filled with the Holy Spirit after visiting another church with actor Robert Townsend in the 80’s.”
Washington recently stated that most people “can’t talk” about religion in the movie industry. “When you see me, you see the best I could do with what I’ve been given by my lord and savior,” he wrote for Esquire. “I’m unafraid.”
“The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit. It happened in the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles,” he stated.
“And I got back there, and they were praying and telling it to us. I’m hallelujah-ing. I was just feeling. It felt like I was getting lifted up. It felt like my back was arched, and I had my eyes closed. Not that I was going up in the air, but—I can’t exactly describe it. And I was blabbering, and kept blabbering, because I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I could hear the people gathering around me. They had seen this before. I could feel them ministering to me, touching me. Talking to me. Protecting me,” he wrote. “And then—this is going to sound like I was doing acid again—I came down.”
“I was slobbering, and I was crying. I felt embarrassed because I didn’t know exactly what had happened. I hadn’t experienced it before, or even seen it. Growing up I’d seen members of the church jumping and running up and down the aisles and all of that. But this scared me. It was too powerful. It was too much. It was too much.”
