Nico Iamaleava saga intersects with kidnapping of East Tennessee pastor overseas

I'm not sure we'll ever see a convergence of headlines that combines a star college football quarterback, the transfer portal, religion, and crime ever again in our lifetimes, but that's exactly what happened recently.

By now, everyone has heard about the Nico Iamaleava saga at Tennessee after the star quarterback was shown the door by Vols head coach Josh Heupel after the star quarterback asked for more NIL money and failed to show up to practice before the team's spring game.

Well, everyone has heard of that except for Tennessee pastor Josh Sullivan.

If it doesn't make much sense why a fervent Vols fan in east Tennessee hadn't heard of the biggest news this off season regarding the Tennessee football program, you're not alone. 

Sullivan, a pastor in East Tennessee, was in South Africa last Thursday when a shooting broke out and four men broke into a church and dragged him away from the pulpit, kidnapping him.

Mulitple law enforcement teams and agency's, including the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, actively pursued the case to locate Sullivan, who they eventually found in the city of Gqeberha. When authorities arrived, suspects in a car began to fire at law enforcement on scene before they attempted to flee the scene, resulting in a very intense shootout where three suspects were killed.

Miraculously, Sullivan - who went to South Africa with his wife and two children in 2018 following a internship a few years prior - was rescued unharmed after nearly a week with his captors.

Moments after his safe rescue, the missionary on site (a Georgia fan) that helped with Sullivan's retrieval was instructed to engage in some small talk, and he felt that was the appropriate time to break the news of Nico's departure from the program. In photos shared publicly since being saved, Sullivan can be seen in varying Vols gear.

Sam Luther, a reporter for WVLT, shared a video of a fellow pastor sharing that story. See that in the clip.