Award-winning actor Denzel Washington is now the Rev. Washington. He is licensed as a minister in the Church of God in Christ after being baptized and ordained by Archbishop Christopher Bryant at the Kelly Temple in New York City on Saturday, according to Variety.
“It took a while, but I’m finally here,” Washington said, according to Fox News. “If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you. The sky literally is the limit.”
Bryant shared photos of the event in a Facebook post, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
“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,” the post read. “He is dressed that way because, in the same service, he received water baptism, 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 80s.”
READ: Denzel Washington talks about spiritual warfare
Washington recently talked about the challenges of being a Christian in Hollywood in a story for “Esquire” magazine, as detailed in the New York Post.
“When you see me, you see the best I could do with what I’ve been given by my Lord and Savior,” he said. “I’m unafraid. I don’t care what anyone thinks. See, talking about the fear part of it — you can’t talk like that and win Oscars. You can’t talk like that and party. You can’t say that in this town.
“I’m free now. It’s not talked about in this town. It’s not talked about. It’s not fashionable. It’s not sexy. But that doesn’t mean people in Hollywood don’t believe. There’s no such thing called Hollywood anyway. What does that even mean? That to me means a street called Hollywood Boulevard.”
Washington landed his breakthrough role in the medical drama “St. Elsewhere” in 1982. He earned multiple nominations for his work on the show and eventually was able to break into film. Washington is known for films such as “Fences,” “Training Day,” “The Book of Eli,” “Cry Freedom” and “Malcom X.”
–Alan Goforth