Just finished launching a sweet 10% sale of the 10 best selling youth ministry resources – 5 from junior high and 5 from high school. It includes some classics and some new releases, too. The best deal is on SJH’s The Whole Enchilada ($200 for practically everything junior high), and if you don’t have Best Sex Ever or How Not to Be a Fool – this is a good time to pick them up. Done!

JG

If you’re wondering how your favorite shows are fairing this TV season, check out this Zap2It article. The short of it? Keifer Sutherland’s 24 launched huge, the NFL playoffs are going strong, Crossing Jordan is headed downhill, Desperate Housewives is also dropping off and Trump is tanking big time. You’re fired!

JG

American Idol returns tomorrow night on FOX for another stirring season of an unknown becoming a superstar. Should be amazing. Can’t wait! Today’s NY Post reveals some of the behind the scenes wildside you don’t see on TV. An interesting read …

JG

Did you see this? We “stole” Doug’s original 1-Minute Bible Curriculum from his office and snuck it up on eBay for the podcast charity auction.

JG

Katie jumps in this week for a cool volunteer tip for your entry-level service. This is something we just started doing in junior high.

JG

Fields just finished up the weekend at Saddleback – a new 3-week series on the life of Jesus called Simply Amazing. It focuses on 3 events where the passage comments that the people were amazed. Very good start – this week focused on sacrifice and told the story of the rich man that came to Jesus. Good stuff!

JG

This week’s SNL was surprisingly clever. Several well-written bits for a change, a Digital Short (Laser Cats 2) and this funny Weekend Update iPhone bit.

JG

Fast Company has a interesting anti-Wal-Mart article that intrigued me even though we shop there regularly and spend about 15% of our annual income there (no joke).

Apparently, low prices are bad for certain company and the images – and you could make an argument that it is bad for America. But don’t you have to buy goods from somewhere? Isn’t this just taking a shot at the big guys (Saddleback, McDonalds both come to mind). My favorite part is where one guy near the end of the piece suggests that Wal-Mart is like Saddam Hussein – lovely. Here’s a clip of what essentially boils down to a case study of Vlasic pickles:

A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic’s gallon jar of pickles.

Wal-Mart priced it at $2.97–a year’s supply of pickles for less than $3! “They were using it as a ‘statement’ item,” says Pat Hunn, who calls himself the “mad scientist” of Vlasic’s gallon jar. “Wal-Mart was putting it before consumers, saying, This represents what Wal-Mart’s about. You can buy a stinkin’ gallon of pickles for $2.97. And it’s the nation’s number-one brand.”

Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world’s largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic’s operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement.

Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us “every day low prices.” It’s the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart.

JG

Didn’t know if you saw these pictures of the latest concept cars of the future, but if you’re bored this weekend it’s a fun diversion.

JG