Marvin Winans, Whitney Houston’s Pastor, Carjacked and Robbed in Detroit [Video]

Reverend Marvin Winans, the popular Detroit pastor who delivered the eulogy at pop star Whitney Houston’s funeral, was robbed and carjacked at a gas station in his home city Wednesday afternoon, CNN is reporting.

Authorities say that Winans, pastor at Perfecting Church on Detroit’s east side, was refilling his Infiniti QX56 SUV when he was sucker-punched and robbed by a group of men.

In addition to beating the legendary pastor up, the attackers took his gray Louis Vuitton wallet containing $200, his $15,000 Rolex gold-and-diamond-encrusted watch, and drove off in his vehicle.

Winans suffered minor scrapes, bumps and ripped pants in the incident but reportedly refused EMS transport to a hospital. Instead, the 54-year-old gospel recording artist had a friend drive him to get medical attention, police said.

Of the attack and carjacking, Winans said:

“I’m just saddened that it has come to this. This kind of nonsense just has to stop. It’s just the savageness of what’s happening in the street.”

Although the pastor believes the men who assaulted him did not recognize him, he feels it would not have mattered if they did.

“And if they did, it didn’t make much difference,” said Winans, who has been active in civic issues, including taking a stand against the proliferation of strip clubs in Detroit’s neighborhoods.

Winans added: “Your life has to be bigger than sitting in a gas station and robbing innocent people.”

ABC affiliate WXYZ reports Pastor Winans’ carjacking incident — which took place in the middle of the afternoon — is happening more and more frequently in 2012.

Just months ago, security cameras at another Detroit gas station recorded video of an 86-year-old man who was carjacked as others passed by and ignored him.

Marvin Winans talks about being robbed in the video below: