TOMORROWKNOWS

OH WE HEAR CHURCH PEOPLE SAY / THEY ARE IN THIS HOLY WAY / THERE ARE STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING EVERY DAY - FERN JONES

Electrocution stirs safety concerns for ministers

Until Waco police complete their investigation into the death Sunday of a local pastor, electrocuted in his church's baptistry, his religious colleagues and curious others are left speculating about how the accident happened.

The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, pastor of University Baptist Church of Waco since 1999, died after he reportedly reached for a microphone while in waist-high water. The woman who was about to be baptized was not injured in the incident.

“We're all in a state of shock,” said the Rev. Joel Gregory, professor of preaching at Baylor University's Truett Seminary. “I have never encountered this (kind of accident) in all my years of ministry.”

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Jay R. Lillge, corporate communications director for Church Mutual Insurance Co. in Merrill, Wis., said Monday that pastor deaths are rare occurrences to begin with: mostly “auto accidents, some airplane crashes, maybe a serious fall. But this is the first baptismal electrocution that we have had (brought to our attention).”

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