Rev Kyle Lake, 33, was standing in a small pool used for baptisms at the University Baptist Church when he was electrocuted on Sunday morning.

Rev Lake reached out to adjust a nearby microphone, which produced an electric shock, said church pastor Ben Dudley.

Rev Lake, who had a wife and three children, had been at the church for nine years.

Confusion

He was taken by ambulance to a local medical centre where he was pronounced dead.

The woman being baptised apparently had not stepped into the water, Mr Dudley told the Waco Tribune-Herald. She was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but was not seriously injured, he said.

"At first, there was definitely confusion just because everyone was trying to figure out what was going on," Mr Dudley said. "Everyone just immediately started praying."

At a remembrance attended by about 1,000 people on Sunday night, Mr Dudley said the congregation would move forward as a church.

"I don't know how, when, why, where or what's going to happen, but we will continue as a church in the community because that is what Kyle would have wanted," he said.