On April 10th, our close friend and fellow missionary Josh Sullivan was kidnapped during his midweek church service by a syndicate crime gang operating in our city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Josh’s church is located about 15 minutes from ours.
In a calculated move, the kidnappers chose to communicate with my cousin Jeremy, attempting to extort a ransom for Josh’s release. In response, my wife Amy flew from Atlanta on Saturday to be with Josh’s wife, Meagan, and Jeremy’s wife, Bekah, as they endured this traumatic ordeal together. I jumped on the phone to support family, and help recruit US Senators & Reps.
Then, on April 15th, in a miraculous display of God’s power and mercy, Josh was rescued and reunited with his family. Amy has since returned to the States and is now back with me. What a wild, emotional, and unforgettable turn of events.


We cannot thank you enough for your prayers for Josh, Jeremy, and their families. God heard and answered. He worked miracles and brought Josh back to us safely. While this was clearly a physical attack on our team members, we believe it was also a spiritual attack from the enemy, an attempt by Satan to hinder the work God is doing in South Africa.
Please continue to pray for our entire South Africa team as we navigate the aftermath of this horrific event. Josh’s church has been impacted, and all of our ministries have felt the weight of this moment, but we know, without a doubt, that God will have the final victory.
Prayer Requests & Praise
- Pray for the Sullivan family as they are back in the State recovering from this experience.
- Pray for the Jeremy Hall family, who also came back to the states a for few weeks. There are safety concerns for both families and they believe getting away for a few weeks is best at this time.
- I want to ask you to please keep my wife, Amy, in your prayers. After a visit to the ophthalmologist, the doctor discovered she has optic nerve damage in one of her eyes. This could be caused by MS or by an eye stroke. We were hoping to get an MRI for her this week and also see the Neuro Ophthalmologist, but unfortunately, the MRI had to be canceled because of issues with my wife’s prosthetics, which she has in her ears. We’re hoping to get things rescheduled so we won’t have a problem leaving for South Africa on May 8th.
Quick Updates & Needs
- We had a great VBM Orientation this past week, even though 3 of our main speakers were helping in South Africa last minute: my wife Amy, Missionary Mark, who is the Sullivan’s brother-in-law, and Kevin Hall, Jeremy’s brother.
- The Josh Barton Family landed in Mozambique. Pray for them as they get settled and begin their language studies.
- Because of the kidnapping, we canceled our big soccer tournament at Camp Rhino, but hope to reschedule soon.