The search goes on for American pastor kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa

The search continued Tuesday for an American pastor from Tennessee who was kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa last week while serving there as a missionary.

Josh Sullivan, 35, had been living in South Africa with his wife Meagan and their children since 2018, The Associated Press reported, citing the Fellowship Baptist Church blog.

But on Thursday evening, a group of armed men raided Sullivan’s small congregation, a branch of the Fellowship Baptist Church in the southern town of Motherwell, as he was leading a prayer service, South African local police told the AP.

Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said the pastor was taken captive and forced into his own truck, with the vehicle later found abandoned nearby. Beetge did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

Hawks, the branch of the South African Police Service which investigates organized crime, confirmed to NBC News in a statement on Tuesday that it was investigating Sullivan’s abduction.

It said it wanted to assure the public that its “top priority at this stage is safe return of the victim” and asked that anyone with information on the case come forward.

The State Department said Friday in a statement that it was aware of reports of the kidnapping of a U.S. citizen in South Africa.

As of Tuesday, Sullivan’s whereabouts remained unknown, with his family calling for prayers for his safe return.

A Maryville, Tennessee woman named Tonya Rinker who identifies Sullivan as her son on her Facebook page expressed heartbreak in a post asking for prayers for her son and their family. NBC News verified the authenticity of the post.

“My heart is breaking, please continue to pray for my son, daughter-in-law, grandkids and our family,” she wrote. “They found his van abandoned but Joshua was kidnapped. I know he’s doing God’s work, and I also know he wouldn’t change that.”

In a separate post, she described Sullivan as “my amazing, hilariously funny, charmingly witty, God-fearing, God-loving, God-called, God-serving, wonderful son.” She also countered reports suggesting he is 45 years old, writing that he is in fact 35. Rinker did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, the Fellowship Baptist Church, which is based in Tennessee, urged its followers to “please pray for Josh Sullivan,” saying that he had been “kidnapped at gunpoint” by a group of men.

In the days since his kidnapping, the church said in a separate post on Saturday that it had faced growing questions, including what it described as “malicious and hateful” messages, about why it deploys missionaries. “It is this — because God did and He told us to,” the church said.