Next, Bishop James Pullings, Jr. presented Washington with his minister’s license, saying:
This license is for him to train. We pray that he will go forth and do what he has to do, so that one day I can ordain him, amen. But at this time, I have your license here, minister’s license from the Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee. I present Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. He is a part of historic Kelly Temple. He has acknowledged the call of the Lord to the gospel ministry. He is hereby presented this certificate as evidence to our acceptance of his testimony. That’s right; he testified of this. I’m not forcing anything on it. This is his testimony of what God is doing. He is recognized as a member of the clergy of the Churches of God in Christ worldwide. At this time, this minister’s license is presented to Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.
Washington plans to complete the classes required for ordination at Kelly Temple Church of God.
Pullings expressed his gratitude for being able to walk alongside Washington during this time in the actor’s life. “We are to empower those who say that they are called by God, and that’s all I’m doing,” said Pullings.
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Denzel Washington: ‘Man Gives the Award, God Gives the Reward’
“Man gives the award, God gives the reward. That’s what my mother told me about the eighth or ninth time I lost an Academy Award,” Washington said after Pullings asked him to speak. “She says, ‘Boy, man gives the award, God gives the reward.'”
He continued, “I was 20 when I sat in my mother’s beauty parlor. And Miss Ruth Green was known to have the gift of prophecy. Some of you may have heard this story; she prophesied, saying, ‘Boy, you are going to travel the world and preach to millions of people.'”
“She didn’t say you’re going to get back in school. She didn’t say you’re going to become an Academy Award winner,” Washington added. “She said, ‘You’re going to travel the world and preach to millions of people.'”
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Washington encouraged the small congregation that 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. God is with us when we’re not with him. He’s for us when we’re not for him. He watches us when we don’t watch him. He protects us when we don’t protect ourselves, and he gives to us when we don’t deserve,” Washington said. “So I’m thankful for all that God has given me in 70 years. To God be the glory. Hallelujah. Anything and everything I can do, I will do for this church, for the Almighty. I just want to be in that number when the saints go marching in. Amen.”
