We knew we were part of something truly exciting when almost one hour before the doors were set to open for the screening of Spiritual Warriors in Calgary, we had people waiting in line to get in.

Right from the moment the first person arrived, the room came alive and electric with anticipation. People were in their seats 30 minutes before the movie started. It helped that we had Anthony Burbridge captivating us with a few soulful melodies from his piano on stage while we waited.

At 6:55PM, Neil took to the stage, offered a brief intro on how the Spiritual Warriors movie came to be screening in Calgary (He was looking for a new website domain name for a program he was developing…). Neil introduced Jsu Garcia and then Jsu offered a brief thank you for coming, took his patented picture of the crowd then the house lights were dimmed and the movie Spiritual Warriors roared to life on the screen.

Neil brought up the house lights after the ending credits and saw a whole theatre of smiling faces.

Jsu came back up on stage and answered about 40 minutes of questions (“What happened to the puppy?”), before moving the whole group out into the lobby for more Q&A and an opportunity for a more personal discussion with people.

It is always a great sign when you actually have to escort people out the door after an event, simply because they don’t want to leave. It was beautiful to be part of such an event that captivated people so much.

If there was one negative of the day, it was the fact that Jsu boldly wore a Toronto Maple Leafs toque while we were out for lunch on Friday. I think on his return trip I’ll get him a real toque — Go Flames Go! Thank you for attending and being part of the exciting screening of Spiritual Warriors.