Who is Josh Sullivan? Tennessee missionary kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa

Josh Sullivan, a Tennessee pastor, was kidnapped at gunpoint as he was preaching a sermon in South Africa

Josh Sullivan, a Tennessee pastor, was kidnapped at gunpoint as he was preaching a sermon before a congregation in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. Four men broke into the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell Township on Thursday, stole cellphones, and took the pastor. An investigation has been launched into the abduction.

Josh Sullivan was kidnapped in South Africa (sullivansinsouthafrica)

“It is alleged that while a sermon was conducted at the church, four armed and masked male suspects entered the church. They robbed two cell phones and then took the 45-year-old male pastor with them and fled the scene,” police said in a statement. They did not identify the victim.

A Maryville woman, Tonya Rinker, said she is Sullivan's mother. She posted a picture of the pastor on Facebook, asking for prayers for her son, daughter-in-law and grandkids.

"Please pray for Josh Sullivan, missionary to South Africa," the church wrote on its Facebook page.

Who is Josh Sullivan?

According to the Fellowship Baptist church blog, Sullivan described himself as a ‘church-planting missionary’. The 45-year-old arrived in South Africa with his family in November 2018, his personal website notes.

"We are looking to finish language school soon and plant a church to the Xhosa speaking people," he wrote on his site.

Sullivan has been on the staff at Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, since February 2012, according to the website.

He has been married to a Meagan and the couple has six children.

“After my high school graduation in 2009 there was a period of time where I got out of church and lived a life for myself instead of a life for Christ. Later that same year, God got my attention in several different ways. I began to see that God had more for my life than I could imagine,” his website notes.