Josh Sullivan, a U.S. pastor abducted at gunpoint while delivering a sermon in his church in South Africa Thursday evening has been rescued in a shootout that left three suspected dead, authorities say.
According to a statement issued by the “Hawks” — a specialized police unit that investigates serious crimes — Sullivan, 45, was abducted at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell Township outside the coastal city of Gqeberha and was being held in a safehouse in that city.
The Hawks say numerous police agencies acting on a tip went to the house Tuesday and saw a vehicle. Suspects in the vehicle tried to flee, opening fire on the officers as they did and “the officers responded with tactical precision, leading to a high-intensity shootout” in which the three suspects were killed.
Sullivan was found in the vehicle “miraculously unharmed,” the statement says, adding that he was “immediately assessed by medical personnel and is currently in an excellent condition.
Fellowship Baptist Church 
Police said four armed and masked male suspects entered the church Thursday, robbed two cellphones and took Sullivan with them in his car, a Toyota Fortuner, which was found a short time later in Motherwell.
There was no initial word Wednesday on the fate or whereabouts of the fourth suspect.
Rev. Jeremy Hall, a local pastor, told French news agency AFP Sullivan’s abduction was probably “financially related.”
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge told AFP cases are turned over to the Hawks when ransoms are demanded.
Kidnappings, including by criminal gangs taking people they think can command large ransoms, have been increasing in South Africa in recent years.
Sullivan was holding a prayer meeting with about 30 people, including his wife and six children, when the armed kidnappers entered, Hall said.
Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, according to his personal website.
“We are looking to finish language school soon and plant a church to the Xhosa speaking people,” he writes on the site.
Sullivan has been on the staff at Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, since February of 2012, according to the website.
Sullivan’s wife, Megan, released a statement through a family spokesperson on Saturday thanking people for “the outpouring of love and prayers.”