Josh Sullivan, a U.S. pastor kidnapped at gunpoint while delivering a sermon in his church in South Africa Thursday evening has been rescued in a shootout that left three suspects dead, authorities say.

South African law enforcement officials have rescued an American missionary who was abducted by armed and masked men as he was preaching in the Eastern Cape province last week.

It was an all around nightmare scenario for Tennessee pastor Josh Sullivan. Last Thursday, while Sullivan was preaching at Fellowship Baptist Church in South Africa, four armed and masked men entered into the building and abducted the pastor at gunpoint.