OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:49 PM – Wednesday, April 16, 2025
The American pastor who was kidnapped during a Sermon in South Africa has thankfully been rescued following a police shootout.
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The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) said on Wednesday that an operation led by the agency “resulted in the successful rescue” of the “[American] pastor who had allegedly been kidnapped and held at a safe house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha, on 15 April 2025.”
On April 10th, Josh Sullivan, of Tennessee, was kidnapped by several armed, masked men at the church Fellowship Baptist Church Motherwell.
“Josh has been released. I just got ‘the go ahead to let it be known’. SA media has started broadcasting. American media will follow. Thank you for your support and prayers. Please do not stop praying for The Sullivans. Praise The Lord Jesus Christ!” Tom Hatley, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, wrote early Wednesday morning in a Facebook post.
Prior to the announcement of Sullivan’s release, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that a multi-law-enforcement agency team was assembled and had been working tirelessly on the ground in order to locate him.
“A multi-law-enforcement agency team, including State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, has formed on the ground and is actively pursuing the case and supporting the family members involved with embassy and consulate colleagues,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
“The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,” the spokesperson added.
According to his own website, Sullivan, who described himself as “a church planting missionary,” traveled to South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, to create a church for the Xhosa-speaking people.
Sullivan has been on staff at Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville since 2012.
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