India, April 12 -- 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.

"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,...