Denzel Washington became a pastor after being baptized in a ceremony at a church in New York shortly before his 70th birthday.

The Academy Award-winning actor, now starring in Gladiator II, was baptized Saturday at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem, New York City, which is affiliated with the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ denomination. The service was livestreamed on Facebook. You can see Washington wearing a white robe diving into the church’s ritual pool and being presented with a baptism certificate.

Washington mentioned that he would soon turn 70 on December 28, telling the congregation, “It’s taken a while, but I’m here.” He also spoke about an incident when he was 20 where he was in the He met a woman named Ruth Green at his mother’s beauty salon who told him, “Boy, you’re going to travel the world and preach to millions of people.”

Later in the ceremony, Washington received a minister’s license from the church, which would allow Washington to officiate at smaller services such as weddings and would allow him to be ordained as a priest in the future.

In an interview with Esquire in November, Washington described his moment of religious awakening in a Los Angeles church in the early 1980s. “It felt like I was being lifted. It felt like my back was arched and my eyes were closed. Not that I blew up, but – I can’t describe it exactly. And I kept babbling and babbling because I was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

In the same interview, Washington also noted the difficulties he faced in speaking openly about his faith in the film industry. “You can’t talk like that and win Oscars. You can’t talk and celebrate like that. You can’t say that in this town… It’s not something that’s 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.”