Kyle Lake, then 33, was serving as pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco when he reached for a microphone during a baptism and was electrocuted in front of 800 church members.
His tragic death on Oct. 30, 2005, shook the church and the entire community. Lake was married with three small children. His energetic approach to ministering attracted college students by the hundreds.
“He will always be on my mind,” said David Lake, Kyle’s father. “He was such an outstanding young man, very caring. We still have people contact us about Kyle’s impact on their lives.”
David Lake, who lives in Tyler, said he decided to write a book so his grandchildren would know more about their father and who he really was. Kyle Lake’s twin sons, Sutton and Jude, and daughter, Avery, were preschoolers when he died.
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As he began work on “That’s Kyle,” David Lake received input from friends of his son who shared their feelings in a way Lake wanted to include in his tribute. So a book of 12 chapters grew to nearly twice that many.
Lake, who has three other grown children, will sign copies of his book from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Baylor University Bookstore, 1201 South Fifth St.
This is Parents Weekend at Baylor, which will host an array of activities.
The bookstore sells copies of “That’s Kyle,” as well as books Kyle Lake wrote titled “Understanding God’s Will: How to Hack the Equation Without Formulas,” and “(Re)Understanding Prayer.”
Proceeds from the book sales will go to the Kyle Lake Foundation, which was established in 2007.
Since its founding, it has awarded nearly 20 scholarships; bought 13 defibrillators for businesses and churches to help people suffering from possible heart attacks; sponsored Christian seminars, soccer camps and golf tournaments; and provided financial assistance to other Christian ministries that share the foundation’s goals.
Kyle Lake graduated from Baylor University in 1994 with a bachelor of arts degree, and from Baylor’s Truett Seminary with a master of divinity in 1997. Before leading UBC, he served as an intern minister at Saddleback Community Church in Orange, Calif., which was founded by Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life.”
David Lake said his daughter-in-law, the former Jennifer Lake, married Harris Bechtol, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University, and they and her three children live in College Station.
Attorneys for the Lakes and MP Electric Inc. of Waco reached a confidential settlement of a lawsuit in 2006 about the design, assembly and installation of the church’s baptistry heaters.
On the morning Lake died, the church was packed, and his wife was seated in the front row as he prepared to baptize a woman. A lawsuit alleges that the water in the baptistry was “charged with a deadly and invisible electrical current.”
As he stepped into the water, Lake grasped a microphone and was electrocuted.
University Baptist Church continues to meet at 1701 Dutton Ave. and counts a high percentage of students among the 600 or so people who gather there on Sunday mornings, teaching pastor Josh Carney said.
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