Denzel Washington on Faith and Spirituality

Posted on 31. Jul, 2008 by frank in faith

At the end of last year Denzel Washington was interviewed by Michael Kress about his faith and how it played a big role in his recent film The Great Debaters. Shelli has always enjoyed his work and I regularly make a point of seeing everything he is in when it makes it to DVD since we don’t make it to the movies much these days.

I had always thought Denzel was a man of faith but I never knew that he took his Christian beliefs so seriously. Here is a quick quote from the interview:

Spirituality is important in every aspect of my life. I mean, that’s why I’m here. That’s what I’ve been blessed to do. When I was about 20 years
old, when I first started acting, I was sitting in my mother’s beauty shop. And a woman just kept looking at me. I was looking in the mirror, and I saw her across the room. And she said, “Someone give me a piece of paper.” And she wrote down a prophecy. She said that I would speak to millions of people, and I would travel the world and preach to millions of people. And I didn’t know what she was talking about. But this was March 27th, 1975, 32 years ago now, almost 33 years ago.

So my work has been my ministry. In fact, I asked my pastor, years ago,”Do you think I should become a minister or a preacher? And he says, “Well,that’s what you’re doing already.” And he felt, as I feel, that that’s what she was talking about back then. I’ve always understood why I’ve been blessed to be put in this situation. And I’m more than happy to take advantage of it and to preach, if you will, about what God has done in my life.

What is so encouraging to me about his words is that his pastor didn’t push him into a different role. I remember meeting people in college that were told they needed to be in ministry and struggled with their identity because of a misguiding force in their life. A force that they didn’t want to question out of respect or fear.

As a staff member at a rapidly growing church that is full of talented young people… I hope I can exercise the same wisdom.