Denzel Washington is Baptized: ‘It’s My Job to Lift God Up, to Give Him Praise’

Actor Denzel Washington, who turns 70 on Saturday, was baptized last weekend at Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem.

The service was streamed on Facebook.

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Washington’s father was a Pentecostal minister and his mother was a beautician. Going to Fordham University, Denzel was planning to be a doctor, then a journalist and finally began pursuing the theater.

At last week’s service, the Oscar-award winning actor shared how a woman named Ruth Green once told him as a twenty-year-old, that he would “travel the world and preach to millions of people.”

“It took a while, but I’m here,” the popular actor said.

He then added:

“Fifty years later … if [God] 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. God is good all the time.”

It’s not that Washington never went to church, or wasn’t around people of faith growing up. He said he even recited the words – but just didn’t appreciate, believe, or fully get it.

“Things I said about God when I was a little boy, just reciting them in church along with everybody else, I know now,” he wrote.

Denzel has been married to Pauletta since 1983. They’ve been blessed with four children: John David, 40, Katia, 38 and twins Malcolm and Olivia, 33.

“When I think of what I’m proudest of, anything I’ve accomplished doesn’t even come to mind,” Washington told Esquire Magazine last month. “It’s our children: They’re good people. They know right from wrong. What else can you ask for, you know? That alone: All four of them, healthy and in their right mind. Enough said.”

But he’s actually had a little more to say.

“I try to teach my children there are going to be obstacles,” he said “Someone may not like you just because they don’t like themselves. But, don’t you get bogged down.”

Over the years, the actor has not only turned our great performances on the screen, but also inspired audiences with his unscripted observations off of it:

“Don’t aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.”

“The chances you take… the people you meet… the people you love…the faith that you have – that’s what’s going to define your life.”

“Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.”

Last week, Denzel was also ordained as a minister.

He told reporters, “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.”

Happy birthday and congratulations, Reverend Washington!

Image credit: Denzel Washington / Instagram