Denzel Washington celebrated a milestone in his faith journey over the weekend.

The Gladiator II star, 69, was baptized on Saturday, December 21, at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood.

The First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Eastern New York livestreamed the service on Facebook, including the special moment when he was baptized and later received his baptism certificate.

During the service, Washington was also presented with a pastor’s license, which will allow him to be ordained a priest in the future.

As he was handed the microphone to reflect on the momentous occasion, Washington acknowledged that in his old age, he has officially laid claim to his faith community.

“I’ll be 70 in a week,” he said. “It took a while, but I’m here.”

Later in the service, the actor recalled a story from when, at age 20, he was sitting in his mother’s beauty salon and met a woman named Ruth Green.

“She said, ‘Boy, you’re going to travel around the world and preach to millions of people,'” he recalled. “She wouldn’t even spell the word prophecy. My mother wrote the word prophecy… 50 years later, look at God. If He can do that for me, there is nothing He can’t do for you. The sky is literally the limit and there is no limit to the sky.”

Washington then expressed gratitude for his “loving, faithful wife,” Pauletta Washington, who had supported him from the community.

“To God be the glory. Hallelujah!” he continued. “Everything I can do, I will do for this Church, the Almighty. I just want to be there when the Saints march in.”

Washington had previously opened up about his faith in an essay for Esquire in November, reflecting on how he went to church as a child, but after witnessing altar calls and “people being saved,” he “didn’t really know” what was happening he was young.

He described the “greatest moment” of his life at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, which was brought to his attention by actor and director Robert Townsend.

“Things I said about God as a little boy and recited along with everyone else in church, I know now,” he said in the essay. “God is real. God is love. God is the only way. God is the true way. God bless.”

He added: “It is my job to exalt God, to praise him and to make sure that anyone and everyone I talk to for the rest of my life understands that he is responsible for me.”

Washington added that he is “not afraid” of the public’s reaction to his faith, adding, “I don’t care what anyone thinks.”

“Look, when we talk about the fear part of it – you can’t talk like that and win Oscars,” he said at the time. “You can’t talk and celebrate like that. You can’t say that in this city.”