Olive Alayne Heiligenthal

'Olive, come out of that grave:' Reporters cover Bethel Church trying to resurrect a dead child

Ever since Sunday, there’s been this bizarre story out of Bethel Church in Redding, Calif., about the followers of this immense church trying to raise a 2-year-old from the dead.

Bethel has been an anomaly in the charismatic/pentecostal world but at the same time a place I’ve been telling reporters they need to get to know. As the days have progressed, I’ve been amazed to see all sorts of media, from the New York Post, USA Today and the Sacramento Bee to Slate and then the Associated Press jumping on this story.

Here’s what AP came out with late Thursday:

Kalley Heiligenthal stomped her feet and waved her arms, dancing her way from one side of the bright-lit stage to the other.

“Come alive, come alive!” the congregants at Bethel Church in Redding, California, shouted in expectation as they clapped and sang praises.

The faithful shared these scenes on Instagram Tuesday night as they prayed for Heiligenthal’s 2-year-old daughter, Olive Alayne, to be raised from the dead.

Heiligenthal, a worship leader and songwriter for Bethel Music, announced on social media Sunday that her daughter had stopped breathing and been pronounced dead.

Since then, she has publicly called for people to pray that her girl be resurrected.

Redding police are investigating the death, which occurred sometime between Friday night and early Saturday morning. The child’s body remains at the Shasta County coroner’s office. Sadly, NBC News, which ran the AP story, stripped the reporter’s byline from the piece, as I would have liked to have seen who wrote it.


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