Latest news with #JoshuaSullivan
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tennessee pastor kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa recalls 'miracle' that saved his life
A Tennessee pastor who was kidnapped at gunpoint from his church in South Africa just before Easter is speaking out about his experience — and the miracle that saved his life. Joshua Sullivan, a 34-year-old Fellowship Baptist Church pastor and missionary working in Motherwell, was kidnapped by several armed, masked men who broke into his church in the Eastern Cape Province on the evening of April 10, took cellphones from parishioners and drove away with Sullivan in his own truck. "We do our prayer time before service, and… I got up to preach, and about one minute into the sermon, four masked gunmen entered the building. We originally thought, you know, South Africa is not the safest place. We've been robbed before. So, we originally thought they were just going to come in and take some phones. I preached from an iPad. I thought they were going to take it, but once he hit me over the head with his gun and then grabbed my wife, I knew something was different about this," Joshua said in an interview with Fox News' Madison Scarpino. The pastor recalled doing "whatever they wanted" him to do when they broke into his church, fearing they might kidnap his wife Meagan, too. American Pastor's Kidnapping In South Africa Fueled By Soaring Armed Robbery Incidents In Recent Years "They got me up, and they took me into my own vehicle. They got the keys from my vehicle, put me in it. All four of those men and me were inside of that vehicle. He immediately started to tell me, 'So I know who you are. I know you're American. I know you have money, and we're going to kidnap you, and we're going to get,' he said, '5 million Rand,' which is about $260,000," Joshua said. "That's what they were wanting. And he asked if my car had a tracker device. I said yes. They were prepared for that." Read On The Fox News App The kidnappers drove about a quarter mile down the road before transferring the pastor into a different vehicle. Then, they left that vehicle and got into a third one before driving about 20 minutes to another location. They forced him to put up his hood and keep his head down. American Pastor Kidnapped At Gunpoint In South Africa Rescued After Deadly Police Shootout The suspects took the pastor into the "very back bedroom" of a house, put him on a bed, tied his hands and kept him there for six days, Joshua said. There were three other men in the house with him, who soon realized they were "just babysitters" who didn't know who he was. "Two of the men were there the entire time, and one of them was evil to me, would say evil things to me," he recalled. "The other one was like the chef. I guess he would come in and ask me… what I wanted to eat, what I wanted to drink. You know, they kidnap me, they take me to the room, they tied me up. Twenty minutes later, he comes in and says, 'What you want for supper?' Like I don't want anything for supper. I didn't eat for the first two days." Trump Admin Secures Release Of American Missionary Held In Tunisia For 13 Months: Report Initially, the men thought Joshua was from the U.K., and he explained that he was an American pastor. "And I was able to tell them about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… giving them the gospel. They had never heard that message before," he said. "And so the one individual was very interested. He had never heard that Jesus loved him or cared for him, and he was very interested in it, listened to everything I had to say. The second individual just listened to me, just to hear what I had to say and didn't really mind too much, but… at least I had the opportunity to do that." Meagan Sullivan described the six days her husband was gone as "torture." The couple and their six children, two of whom they adopted in South Africa, have lived in South Africa for seven years. They had both been robbed before and heard about kidnappings in the area where they live. "There's not a lot that they can do," Meagan said of the local police. "So, they were very nonchalant about the whole thing. And I was just so broken, and over the, the next few days, I just remember the Lord telling me to wait." Meagan said she had to focus on surrendering to God and comforting her children, adding later that the "worst part" of her experience was not hearing anything from police. "They were sobbing. They were terrified," she said of their kids, "but we prayed together. We gave it to the Lord and told him that we trust him." 'Slowing Things Down' Is 'Key' To Safe Return Of Tennessee Pastor Kidnapped In South Africa: Retired Fbi Agent The kidnappers contacted Meagan via WhatsApp for several days, demanding their ransom for his release. "I just crumbled to the ground when I was talking to them because… they said, '5 million ransom and you'll get your husband back.' … And they said cash. And I said, 'I don't have 5 million cash. Can you work with me?' And they said, 'You are not in any position to be making demands,'" she said. "And I said, 'OK, I'll get you your 5 million Rand, but it might take me a minute.' And so I was just really trying to figure out how I was going to make that happen." Six days into his kidnapping, Joshua experienced what he described as a "miracle." On April 16, the kidnappers moved Joshua into a vehicle. He didn't know where they were taking him but got the feeling they "had to get rid of" him. As they were taking him from the back bedroom of the house into a garage with his head covered, Joshua tripped on a step and fell down. He stood after a minute and then tripped on another step as the suspects tried to rush him out of the house and into a vehicle. Joshua could not see anything but sensed when they drove the vehicle out of the garage and sat in the driveway. 9 Nigerian Students Kidnapped At Gunpoint In Region's Latest School Abduction "While we're sitting in the driveway, the guys just jumped out of the car and began firing their weapons," he said. "Of course, I don't know what's going on. And then… [for] about five to seven minutes, I hear a gun battle. Nothing hits the car, nothing around the car. But I just hear guns going off, and I'm just laying back there praying. I didn't know what I should do. Should I run? Should I get out? I didn't know, so I just laid back there and prayed. Then I hear the battle is ended." He heard footsteps come toward the car and someone open one of the doors, and a man asked if he was "the American pastor," to which Joshua responded, 'Yes." "He takes my hood off my hood, and I see the police uniform, and he says, 'OK, we're the police.' And I just lost it. I just began crying and just, that's when the shock began. I just got thrown into shock. I just got on my hands and knees and praised the Lord. But the police were so surprised. They were in shock that I was in there," he said. Joshua later discovered that the police received a tip about a suspicious vehicle earlier that day. They went to chase down the lead to a different location, took a wrong turn and ended up in the driveway of the house where the pastor was being held captive to turn their vehicle around. It was then that the kidnapping suspects got out of the vehicle and began firing at the police. Three suspects died in the shootout with police. Joshua said the turn of events that led to his recovery was "undoubtedly a miracle." "Whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever, I know that doesn't matter. What happened to us, what happened to me, it was a miracle from God," he said. "The sovereign hand of God was on it because as we were speaking before the interview, things like this happen all the time… and in this case… what else could you say besides God performed a miracle in our lives? … I think he did it to show the world." Meagan said it was "horrifying" to watch their children "scream and cry and for their daddy," but they "got to see that faith isn't just something that mom and dad talk about." "They got to experience it because they saw God work a miracle in their own lives," she said. "They prayed, and God answered their prayer." The Sullivans said they both feel more strongly about their mission to teach Christianity in South Africa after Joshua's kidnapping. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Africa said in a December 2024 report that the South African Police Service's (SAPS) annual crime statistics show kidnappings increased by 264% from 4,692 in 2014 and 2015 to 17,061 in 2023 and 2024. Most kidnapping incidents over the 2023-2024 time period "were perpetrated during aggravated robberies, such as car or truck hijackings or armed robberies at businesses, homes, or in public spaces," the ISS Africa report article source: Tennessee pastor kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa recalls 'miracle' that saved his life
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Fox News
Tennessee pastor kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa recalls 'miracle' that saved his life
Print Close By Audrey Conklin Published May 13, 2025 A Tennessee pastor who was kidnapped at gunpoint from his church in South Africa just before Easter is speaking out about his experience — and the miracle that saved his life. Joshua Sullivan, a 34-year-old Fellowship Baptist Church pastor and missionary working in Motherwell , was kidnapped by several armed, masked men who broke into his church in the Eastern Cape Province on the evening of April 10, took cellphones from parishioners and drove away with Sullivan in his own truck. "We do our prayer time before service, and… I got up to preach, and about one minute into the sermon, four masked gunmen entered the building. We originally thought, you know, South Africa is not the safest place. We've been robbed before. So, we originally thought they were just going to come in and take some phones. I preached from an iPad. I thought they were going to take it, but once he hit me over the head with his gun and then grabbed my wife, I knew something was different about this," Joshua said in an interview with Fox News' Madison Scrapino. The pastor recalled doing "whatever they wanted" him to do when they broke into his church, fearing they might kidnap his wife Meagan, too. AMERICAN PASTOR'S KIDNAPPING IN SOUTH AFRICA FUELED BY SOARING ARMED ROBBERY INCIDENTS IN RECENT YEARS "They got me up, and they took me into my own vehicle. They got the keys from my vehicle, put me in it. All four of those men and me were inside of that vehicle. He immediately started to tell me, 'So I know who you are. I know you're American. I know you have money, and we're going to kidnap you, and we're going to get,' he said, '5 million Rand,' which is about $260,000," Joshua said. "That's what they were wanting. And he asked if my car had a tracker device. I said yes. They were prepared for that." The kidnappers drove about a quarter mile down the road before transferring the pastor into a different vehicle. Then, they left that vehicle and got into a third one before driving about 20 minutes to another location. They forced him to put up his hood and keep his head down. AMERICAN PASTOR KIDNAPPED AT GUNPOINT IN SOUTH AFRICA RESCUED AFTER DEADLY POLICE SHOOTOUT The suspects took the pastor into the "very back bedroom" of a house, put him on a bed, tied his hands and kept him there for six days, Joshua said. There were three other men in the house with him, who soon realized they were "just babysitters" who didn't know who he was. "Two of the men were there the entire time, and one of them was evil to me, would say evil things to me," he recalled. "The other one was like the chef. I guess he would come in and ask me… what I wanted to eat, what I wanted to drink. You know, they kidnap me, they take me to the room, they tied me up. Twenty minutes later, he comes in and says, 'What you want for supper?' Like I don't want anything for supper. I didn't eat for the first two days." TRUMP ADMIN SECURES RELEASE OF AMERICAN MISSIONARY HELD IN TUNISIA FOR 13 MONTHS: REPORT Initially, the men thought Joshua was from the U.K., and he explained that he was an American pastor. "And I was able to tell them about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… giving them the gospel. They had never heard that message before," he said. "And so the one individual was very interested. He had never heard that Jesus loved him or cared for him, and he was very interested in it, listened to everything I had to say. The second individual just listened to me, just to hear what I had to say and didn't really mind too much, but… at least I had the opportunity to do that." Meagan Sullivan described the six days her husband was gone as "torture." The couple and their six children, two of whom they adopted in South Africa, have lived in South Africa for seven years. They had both been robbed before and heard about kidnappings in the area where they live. "The police in South Africa are very desensitized to crime." — Meagan Sullivan "There's not a lot that they can do," Meagan said of the local police. "So, they were very nonchalant about the whole thing. And I was just so broken, and over the, the next few days, I just remember the Lord telling me to wait." Meagan said she had to focus on surrendering to God and comforting her children, adding later that the "worst part" of her experience was not hearing anything from police. "They were sobbing. They were terrified," she said of their kids, "but we prayed together. We gave it to the Lord and told him that we trust him." 'SLOWING THINGS DOWN' IS 'KEY' TO SAFE RETURN OF TENNESSEE PASTOR KIDNAPPED IN SOUTH AFRICA: RETIRED FBI AGENT The kidnappers contacted Meagan via WhatsApp for several days, demanding their ransom for his release. "I just crumbled to the ground when I was talking to them because… they said, '5 million ransom and you'll get your husband back.' … And they said cash. And I said, 'I don't have 5 million cash. Can you work with me?' And they said, 'You are not in any position to be making demands,'" she said. "And I said, 'OK, I'll get you your 5 million Rand, but it might take me a minute.' And so I was just really trying to figure out how I was going to make that happen." Six days into his kidnapping, Joshua experienced what he described as a "miracle." On April 16, the kidnappers moved Joshua into a vehicle. He didn't know where they were taking him but got the feeling they "had to get rid of" him. As they were taking him from the back bedroom of the house into a garage with his head covered, Joshua tripped on a step and fell down. He stood after a minute and then tripped on another step as the suspects tried to rush him out of the house and into a vehicle. Joshua could not see anything but sensed when they drove the vehicle out of the garage and sat in the driveway. 9 NIGERIAN STUDENTS KIDNAPPED AT GUNPOINT IN REGION'S LATEST SCHOOL ABDUCTION "While we're sitting in the driveway, the guys just jumped out of the car and began firing their weapons," he said. "Of course, I don't know what's going on. And then… [for] about five to seven minutes, I hear a gun battle. Nothing hits the car, nothing around the car. But I just hear guns going off, and I'm just laying back there praying. I didn't know what I should do. Should I run? Should I get out? I didn't know, so I just laid back there and prayed. Then I hear the battle is ended." He heard footsteps come toward the car and someone open one of the doors, and a man asked if he was "the American pastor," to which Joshua responded, 'Yes." "He takes my hood off my hood, and I see the police uniform, and he says, 'OK, we're the police.' And I just lost it. I just began crying and just, that's when the shock began. I just got thrown into shock. I just got on my hands and knees and praised the Lord. But the police were so surprised. They were in shock that I was in there," he said. Joshua later discovered that the police received a tip about a suspicious vehicle earlier that day. They went to chase down the lead to a different location, took a wrong turn and ended up in the driveway of the house where the pastor was being held captive to turn their vehicle around. It was then that the kidnapping suspects got out of the vehicle and began firing at the police. "It was is a sovereign hand of God. It was a miracle. It was a complete miracle." — Joshua Sullivan Three suspects died in the shootout with police. Joshua said the turn of events that led to his recovery was "undoubtedly a miracle." "Whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever, I know that doesn't matter. What happened to us, what happened to me, it was a miracle from God," he said. "The sovereign hand of God was on it because as we were speaking before the interview, things like this happen all the time… and in this case… what else could you say besides God performed a miracle in our lives? … I think he did it to show the world." Meagan said it was "horrifying" to watch their children "scream and cry and for their daddy," but they "got to see that faith isn't just something that mom and dad talk about." "They got to experience it because they saw God work a miracle in their own lives," she said. "They prayed, and God answered their prayer." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Sullivans said they both feel more strongly about their mission to teach Christianity in South Africa after Joshua's kidnapping. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Africa said in a December 2024 report that the South African Police Service's (SAPS) annual crime statistics show kidnappings increased by 264% from 4,692 in 2014 and 2015 to 17,061 in 2023 and 2024. Most kidnapping incidents over the 2023-2024 time period "were perpetrated during aggravated robberies, such as car or truck hijackings or armed robberies at businesses, homes, or in public spaces," the ISS Africa report reads. Print Close URL
Associated Press
15-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Empowering Communities: ALIVE Active Shooter Survival Training Expands to Equip Individuals with Life-Saving Skills
ALIVE expands to train businesses and communities with life-saving active shooter survival tactics as incidents rise 60% since 2019. 'When seconds count, help is minutes away!' — Joshua Sullivan WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, March 15, 2025 / / -- In an era where active shooter incidents are an increasing concern, the ALIVE Active Shooter Survival Training Program is leading the charge in preparing individuals, businesses, and organizations with the critical knowledge they need to survive and respond effectively in crisis situations. The program, founded by renowned security expert Michael Julian, CPI, and led by Chief Operating Officer and Master Instructor, Joshua R. Sullivan, is expanding nationwide with new in-person, online, and virtual training opportunities, making this life-saving education more accessible than ever. With over 300 trained Instructors across the U.S. and internationally, ALIVE (Assess, Leave, Impede, Violence, Expose) provides a structured, easy-to-remember framework for individuals to react swiftly and increase their chances of survival in an active shooter event. Unlike traditional training programs, ALIVE is designed for real-world application, blending psychology, situational awareness, and actionable tactics to empower people of all backgrounds. 'As someone who currently serves in leadership within public safety and security and has served for over two decades, I've seen firsthand how critical training can mean the difference between life and death,' said Joshua R. Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer and Master Instructor for ALIVE. 'Our mission is to ensure that every individual—whether in the workplace, school, or public space—feels empowered, prepared, and capable of protecting themselves and others.' A Timely, National Need for Preparedness: According to the FBI's 2023 report, there were 48 active shooter incidents across 26 states, resulting in 105 fatalities and 139 injuries. This marks a 60% increase in such incidents since 2019. These alarming statistics underscore the urgent need for proactive training in workplaces, schools, and public spaces. The ALIVE program is answering this call by partnering with businesses, law enforcement agencies, schools, and community organizations to provide customized in-person workshops, online courses, and corporate training programs. FBI Upcoming Events & Media Opportunities: ALIVE is currently hosting classes directly and indirectly through our instructors and Online learning platform, providing an opportunity for local/national media to witness the training firsthand and hear directly from security experts and participants about the impact of this critical education. ALIVE also offers Instructor classes (T3 Training Course) that certifies students to be licensed instructors for the program which currently boasts instructors on 4 continents and multiple countries. Members of the media are invited to attend and experience an ALIVE training session to see how it transforms fear into action through dynamic instruction and real-world scenarios. Interviews with expert instructors and participants can be arranged upon request. About ALIVE Active Shooter Survival Training: Founded in 2013, by Michael Julian, CPI, ALIVE Active Shooter Survival Training is a nationally recognized program dedicated to equipping individuals with the mental and physical strategies to prevent and survive active shooter/threat incidents. The training has been adopted by corporations, schools, law enforcement, and private security firms nationwide, helping thousands feel prepared rather than paralyzed in crisis situations. For more information, interview requests, or to schedule a media visit, please contact Joshua Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer at [email protected] or visit Contact: Melissa Grey A.L.I.V.E. Training Coordinator A.L.I.V.E. Active Shooter Survival Training Program 951-677-3500 Ext 33 [email protected] Joshua R Sullivan, COO ALIVE Active Threat Survival Training Program 301-655-1009 Legal Disclaimer:
