Ministry from on high
On a helicopter dubbed Prayer One, the faithful reach a new awareness of God and community.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
August 16, 2007

ENGLEWOOD, COLO. -- Scott Hastings so does not want to do this.His face looks pale as he trudges through gusts of grit to the helicopter.

In 11 seasons as a pro basketball player -- and in his current job as a TV analyst for the Denver Nuggets -- Hastings has grown accustomed to travel. Travel, that is, by big, solid plane. This helicopter looks too small to hold all 6-feet-10, 280 pounds of him, not to mention the pilot and four other passengers.

He's man enough to say he's terrified.

Then again, this is not just any helicopter. Christened Prayer One, it lifts monks and rabbis, imams and pastors, and ordinary people of faith up over Denver each Monday morning, up into a new perspective on life and love and God. Or so Hastings' friends tell him. Several have taken a ride on Prayer One; they've called it an amazing spiritual stretch. That seems worth a few clammy moments. Hastings, 47, squeezes into the front seat. Gently, steadily, Prayer One lifts into a sky of the most serene blue. the rest