Seven days of prayer and fasting for Pat and Bruce
Now a year after Pat’s first year as quad in 1974 there were the two main (possibly more though) camps of young believers in the city seeking God and experiencing mini revivals. One was Charismatic [Agape] and the other [Colonial] was not. Tom Barlow was the leading Agape ministries and with others like Paul Clark who would meet with Mike and some of the other guys from Colonial at different times to hash out their theological differences. When Paul first met Mike Bickle, what struck Paul most about him was his enthusiasm. A major place of burden that these two camps of believers shared together with Pat right after he was injured. Tom and the rest of the House of Agape started lifting Pat up in their prayers.
Concerning Pat around a year after Pat was injured, Tom Barlow with the other leaders of Agape ministries decided to initiate a seven-day period of prayer and fasting. This was to mainly pray for Pat’s healing and for God to also touch one of their own: Bruce Coleman who had lymphoma. The doctors told Bruce that he didn’t have more than a month to live. So, this group came together primarily focusing their prayers for Pat, Bruce and five others. Gunder remembered the Agape experience, and he recalled that they were sincere people. During the seven-day fast Mike went to several meetings at Agape and took Pat along a few times. Mike, now a youth leader at Colonial, didn’t believe in speaking tongues and taught against it then, but he was always open to healing. His attitude was kind of like, “Why not?
People from both camps came together on the last night of the fast at the Church they used located at 55th and Oak. Tom prayed for Pat with other youth leaders from Agape and Colonial. The guys from Agape spent about an hour praying loudly that Pat would be healed while young men from Colonial watched and prayed silently. Pat was right in the middle of this. Tom felt that he saw in his heart Pat just leap off his bed, and told that to Pat. This statement encouraged Pat then, but nothing happened. Pat was touched by Tom's apparent sincerity and enthusiasm for God, but for Pat it was merely one more in a long line of disappointments yet to come.
Tom and other Agape members moved on to pray for Bruce Coleman, their stricken friend. A young man named Dennis Brown along with the other guys from Colonial continued to pray for Pat for a while. A partial miracle happened that night for Bruce. His disease went into complete remission for seven years before he finally lost his battle. He acquired the name, “The Miracle Man” at the Veteran’s hospital. One day a young man named Kevin Mangold who had been a given a devastating diagnosis by his Doctor of living a restricted future agonizing life with rheumatoid arthritis walked in the church one day and felt the Presence of God go through him and he was instantly healed of rheumatoid arthritis. He then went forward to give witness to his healing and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
At the end of the meeting, the Colonial group left disappointed and angry that Pat didn’t get healed, even though Pat seemed upbeat at the moment. They were angry because they felt the group at Agape had gotten Pat’s hopes up for nothing. Ernie Gruen, the leader of Full Faith Church of Love, which was the largest Charismatic church in the city then, prophesied to them, “The Lord was going to respond and answer their prayers.” Paul continued to visit Pat and be a voice to him from Agape. Pat always seemed upbeat when he came over. Paul observed the reality of the daily grind required to take care of Pat, a quadriplegic. He observed that those taking care of Pat dealt with a crucible of life that was much greater than a normal person ever deals with. He realized how very different Pat’s lifestyle was to that of a regular person. Pat was compelled to be a “deep end of the pool” type of guy.