Its funny the way different communities work. They have their heros, hot topics, rules, abbreviations etc. One of the things that stand out is that every community has its heroes. These people are “famous” in their particular circle, but are nobodys in other circles. And it’s not just, “oh I know them.” No, it’s “WOW, OMG I’m talking to _____!!!!!!!” If you’re a part of the community, these heroes are every bit as famous as Britney Spears or President Bush. And the most interesting thing about these famous people is that they all know each other and are like best friends with each other. It’s like a “cool” crowd or “in-group.” I thought tHere are some examples:

The Counter-Strike Community
I remember clan members from certain high level clans were so respected and worshipped practically. Seeing a member of -si- or $ik was like WOW. We would watch the videos of X3 and listen to interviews from them and everything. We would go and get invited to be a part of a chatroom that had a couple -si- members and $ik ppl there and they would just chat and I wouldn’t say anything. I would just be like… WOW, I’m in awe!!! I remember when I found out [$ik]Rast was Brian Rast from high school, I thought… WOW… then I realized that hmm he wasn’t that WOW in high school. Maybe these people aren’t that cool.

The Wedding Photography Community

Now wedding photography has certain styles and therefore there are certain subcommunities within wedding photography. For example, Scott Roberts is really famous on xanga so much that people call him SR and expect you to know who he is. Yet I talk to a lot of wedding photographers and they have no idea who he is. But there are some wedding photographers that basically all wedding photographers know: Jessica Claire , Yervant, Joe Buissink, Nate and Jaclyn Kaiser , Jeff Ascough , The Bebbs
and of course, Gary Fong . There are some more that I am forgetting… but its weird because a lot of these people hang out with each other on a regular basis. They like all went to Gary Fong’s wedding. It’s weird. And whenever these people post on DWF , people are like… in awe, worshipping again.

The Emerging Church “conversation”
Do you know who Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Mark Scandrette are? Do you know who Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Mark Driscoll are? Even though there are two sides to this conversation, it’s basically one community. Even though some claim to have nothing to do with each other, they all know each other and everyone who knows about the emerging church movement knows these people. All of them are pastors of course. I think its funny that Mark Driscoll used to be part of the Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt crowd, but is now running away from them… yet he is inexorably tied to them. I bet he gets asked about Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt ALL THE TIME.

USA Table Tennis
The top players in the United States like David Zhuang, Lupy, Gao Jun, and others are famous of course. When you got to tournaments, it’s like… wow, David Zhuang is going to be here! And people gather in crowds to see a big match. Yet these people aren’t even famous among table tennis players internationally. I bet a German table tennis regular would have no idea who David Zhuang is. And then there are the “famous” prodigy types like Lily Zhang, Ariel Hsing, Justin Yao, where people often brag about how they used to play them or got beat once by them a long time ago. What’s the big deal about playing a 12 year old kid in ping pong? eheheh, yet its kinda like a badge of honor in table tennis.

Seems like being “important” in a community is a big thing for some people. I see this same thing happen in local church communities too. There are “famous” people inside each church. The sad thing is when people fight to become one of those more respected people or cannot relinquish their hold on something because of their position and respect in the overall church community. It seems like some people come to church for the sole purpose of gaining that type of importance within some community.