There should be “no rush” in negotiations after a Tennessee pastor was kidnapped while preaching at a church in South Africa, a retired FBI agent and hostage negotiator from Knoxville told Fox News Digital. 

“There’s no rush into this,” Jason Pack told Fox News Digital on Friday evening. “Calming things down, slowing things down and just having that dialogue and listening to see what [the hostage takers] want is really the key here.”

He said he’s sure the U.S. authorities are in close contact with the South African authorities, who are leading the investigation, adding that along with the U.S. embassy there, the FBI also has a legal attaché office there that will be involved.

Pack explained, “Negotiators want to buy time and slow things down. Generally speaking, when an incident like this happens, there’s a lot of adrenaline pumping, a lot risk for violence. So generally, at the time when these incidents happen, that’s the highest risk for violence. So now there’s time, hopefully there’s an open line of communication and there’s opportunity to make this end safely for everybody.”

ost of these things are settled with words and not force. So, the more you can have open dialogue, the more we can talk and listen, I think the more successful you can be in these type situations.”