Kyle Lake, 33-year-old pastor of University Baptist Church, Waco, Texas, was electrocuted and died Oct. 30 after he grabbed a microphone while in a baptistry full of water.
According to eyewitness reports, Lake grabbed the microphone to adjust it while standing in the baptismal waters. He was shocked and collapsed.
More than 800 people witnessed the event. Doctors in the congregation tried for about 40 minutes to revive Lake.
He was sent to Waco’s Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m.
The woman Lake was to baptize survived the incident.
A technical crew and local authorities are trying to pinpoint the exact cause of Lake’s death.
Meanwhile leaders and journalists in Baptist life said they were unaware of any other deaths apparently due to baptistry electrocutions.
Lake and his wife, Jen, have a daughter and twin sons.
University Baptist was founded in 1995 by David Crowder and Chris Seay, who is now pastor of Ecclesia Church, Houston. Lake led University Baptist, a congregation largely of college students, for seven years.
A graduate of Baylor University and its seminary in Waco, Lake was one of the up-and-coming voices of the “emerging church” movement, which seeks to reconnect younger generations to the gospel.
He was the author of two books, “Understanding God’s Will” and “[Re]Understanding Prayer.”
News of Lake’s death spread across the country within hours of his passing through phone calls, e-mails and Internet blogs.
His death affects a large portion of younger believers, according to a blog run by Emergent, a network of young church leaders.
And Lake’s death has also prompted experts to study potential dangers in baptistries.
Electricity and water create a potentially deadly combination, but metal — not microphones themselves — presents the greatest danger to people in baptistries, according to acoustic and church-building consultants.
“If everything is working right, there is no way a microphone carries nearly enough electricity to cause a person’s death,” said Brian Elwell, senior consultant with Acoustic Dimensions near Dallas.
A correctly wired, properly grounded microphone carries a maximum 48 volts — nowhere near enough to stop a person’s heart, even if the individual stood in chest-deep water, Elwell explained.
But “correctly wired” and “properly grounded” conditions make all the difference, said Elwell and others.
If either the baptistry pool or the metal chassis of the microphone were improperly grounded, then it could create a hazard.
Any pool of water carries electrical potential, and if a person standing in electricity-charged water reaches out to touch a metal object, then it will complete the circuit and cause a shock, Elwell noted.
Also if a microphone line were cut and came into contact with high voltage, then the metal casing of the mike could become highly charged, he added.
“The bottom line is, if you’re in the water, don’t touch anything metal,” said Elwell, whose firm’s clients have included the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif.; Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill.; and Saddleback Church in Mission Viejo, Calif.
LifeWay Christian Resources recommends that only wireless mikes be used in or near a baptistry — either a wireless lavaliere mike, a hand-held wireless or a wireless mike on a stand.
There is not enough voltage in any wireless mike to do any damage, said Davis Byrd, director of LifeWay’s church architecture department.
“The water would probably ruin the equipment if it were submerged, but the battery operation doesn’t have enough voltage to do any harm,” he said.
If a wired microphone must be used, then it should be suspended overhead, out of reach, Byrd added — advice echoed by Keith Crouch, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas church facilities center.
When it comes to installing baptistries and the electrical fixtures around them — including pumps and heaters, as well as sound systems — Crouch strongly urges churches to use only licensed and certified electricians and plumbers.
He also recommends that electrical plugs near the baptistry be installed with ground-fault interrupters. (ABP)
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