(NewsNation) — A Tennessee pastor was abducted by armed and masked men as he was preaching before a congregation in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, local authorities said.

Josh Sullivan, 45, was speaking at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell Township on Thursday when four men broke into the building, police Capt. Andre Beetge told the BBC. The men reportedly stole two cellphones from members of the congregation and kidnapped the pastor in his own truck.

A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department told the BBC the department was aware of the kidnapping of a U.S. citizen in South Africa, and there was no “greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad.”

Beetge confirmed in a statement that the stolen truck, a silver Toyota Fortuner, was found abandoned in Motherwell shortly after the incident.

The department’s anti-gang unit is leading the investigation, which was opened by the South African Police Service in Motherwell.

Beetge said protocol dictates that once a ransom is demanded, the case will be handed over to the Hawks — a specialized police unit that investigates organized crime, economic crime, corruption and other serious crimes.

“As I understand, there has been no ransom raised,” said Beetge. He urged anyone with information to come forward.

Jeremy Hall, spokesperson for the Sullivan family, told TimesLive he was at the church with his wife and children during the incident.

“They knew his name,” Hall said.

According to the Fellowship Baptist Church blog, Sullivan, a self-described “church-planting missionary,” his wife Meagan and their two children arrived in South Africa from Tennessee in November 2018 to run the Motherwell branch.

A Maryville, Tennessee, woman by the name of Tonya Rinker, who lists Sullivan as her son in her profile, expressed heartbreak on Facebook and asked for prayers for her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, adding that the American embassy in South Africa was working to find him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.