Prince Church 2016: Superstar's Fellow Jehovah's Witnesses Remember Him, 'He Was Accepted' [VIDEO]
Millions around the world are mourning the death of pop icon Prince, but one congregation is mourning the loss in a unique way.
Prince's death has been on many people's minds since it was announced on Thursday. It was at that time that many learned for the first time of his devout faith as a Jehovah's Witness, and the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall, St. Louis Park, Minn. honored the man on Sunday.
The music superstar is said to have frequently attended this congregation since 2006, according to parishioner James Lundstrom. While there, Prince was referred to as Brother Nelson and treated as any other parishioner.
"He didn't want to dishonor the faith. He wanted to be just one of us," Lundstrom told CNN.
Along those lines, Josephine Parker, another parishioner, told the Los Angles Times: "He was accepted as our brother," adding, "He wasn't treated as maybe the world would treat him."
Prince's faith led him to knock on some doors around Minneapolis, and Lundstrom recalled one particular standout exchange between the music legend and a citizen.
"In the middle of Prince's very nice Bible presentation, the woman says, 'Excuse me, but has anyone told you that you look a lot like Prince?' He looks at her and says, 'It's been said.' Then goes back to his presentation. When the woman asked Prince for his name, Prince said, 'Rogers Nelson,'" Lundstrom said.
Prince spoke about such experiences in an interview with The New Yorker in 2009.
"Sometimes people act surprised, but mostly they're really cool about it," he said, of his door-to-door experiences.
He also spoke on adopting the faith after being raised as a Seventh-day Adventist.
"I don't see it really as a conversion. More, you know, it's a realization," he explained. "It's like Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix."
Prince took a more practical approach to his faith, as he described in a 2004 CNBC interview:
"I started studying the Bible once I changed my name back and started studying with my good friend Larry Graham," he said. "He helped me to just look at the Bible in a very practical way, to cut through all the dogma. I just wanted a clean, simple approach to it."
