An American pastor was rescued after a deadly shootout at a house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha, where he was being held.
Authorities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa made the announcement Tuesday, per Fox News.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) released a statement saying an operation led by the agency “resulted in the successful rescue” of a U.S. citizen, “reportedly a local pastor who had allegedly been kidnapped and held at a safe house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha, on 15 April 2025.”
Josh Sullivan, 34, of Tennessee, was kidnapped by several armed, masked men last week at his church.
Police said they received tips that Sullivan was inside a safe house in KwaMagxaki.
When police arrived at the safe house, suspects began firing and started to flee. A “high-intensity shootout” followed with three unidentified suspects killed.
Sullivan was found in the car the suspects were in, but was “miraculously unharmed,” police said. Police added he is “currently in an excellent condition.”
Tom Hatley, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, wrote about Sullivan’s rescue early Wednesday morning on Facebook.
“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!” he wrote.
Sullivan, along with his wife and two children, moved there in 2018 after the couple did in a six-month internship there in 2015.
“It was during this time that the Lord began to stir their hearts specifically for the Xhosa people,” fellow Missionary Mark Coffey said. “They returned in 2018 as full-time church-planting missionaries, determined to share the Gospel and see lives changed. Josh committed himself to two years of language school and became fluent in Xhosa so he could preach, disciple, and minister more effectively.”
