Jeff Puckett's helicopter gets Denver closer to God

Jeremy Rivera had a similar experience. The marketing and communications director for FOCUS, a Denver-based Catholic nonprofit that coordinates mission trips for college students, Rivera started a young-Catholics group called the Root a few years ago that began drawing hundreds of people eager to connect with twenty-somethings who held the same beliefs. Going up in Prayer One, he says, "reinforced the belief that people can be really close together and still feel really lonely," he says. "Community has to be something you have to be intentional about."

After flying on that recent Monday, the twenty or so people who'd been in the air gather to talk about the experience. They speak one by one.

Anthony Camera

Jeff Puckett explores the heavens in Prayer One.

Anthony Camera

Many who fly on Prayer One say the experience brings them together.

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• Jeff Puckett
• Tom Melton
• A.G.E. Sandoval
• Homelessness
• Religion

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A young man named Aaron says it was the first time in his life that he's been rendered speechless. A woman named Janice says she almost didn't show up because she's afraid of heights, but she's glad she did because "perfect love strikes out all fear."

One woman says she prayed for lawmakers to make wise decisions as the helicopter flew over the Capitol. Another says that as she looked at the houses below, she prayed for an end to divorce. A woman named Maria tells the group that she had a vision of angels putting papers on the desks of judges at the courthouse, delivering justice.

The morning ends as it began: with a prayer. "Lord, once again, we thank you for being an awesome God," says Del Hierro. As they did at 7:30 that morning, the participants stand in a circle. But now, less than two hours later, they hold hands.

"We ask that you be glorified and show us more and more how we're supposed to connect together," they say.

Amen.