diff --git a/app/controllers/contacts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/contacts_controller.rb
index 0ced97b09..96c33807c 100644
--- a/app/controllers/contacts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/contacts_controller.rb
@@ -39,13 +39,7 @@ class ContactsController < ApplicationController
 
   def featured
     @featured = true
-    @people = []
-    if diaspora_ids = AppConfig[:featured_users]
-      @people = diaspora_ids.inject [] do |people, id|
-        person = Webfinger.new(id).fetch
-        people << person unless person.blank?
-      end
-    end
+    @people = Person.featured_users
   end
 
   private
diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
index 73334daef..2204c2e59 100644
--- a/app/models/person.rb
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@ class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
   scope :remote, where('people.owner_id IS NULL')
   scope :local, where('people.owner_id IS NOT NULL')
 
+  def self.featured_users
+    if AppConfig[:featured_users].present?
+      Person.where(:diaspora_handle => AppConfig[:featured_users])
+    end
+  end
+  
   def self.search_query_string(query)
     query = query.downcase
 
diff --git a/config/initializers/fetch_featured_users.rb b/config/initializers/fetch_featured_users.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eba98d1cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/initializers/fetch_featured_users.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+unless AppConfig[:featured_users].count == Person.featured_users.count
+  puts "Fetching featured users from remote servers..."
+  AppConfig[:featured_users].each do |x|
+    Webfinger.new(x).fetch
+  end
+  puts "Done fetching!"
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/person_spec.rb b/spec/models/person_spec.rb
index faa3b238c..18818097a 100644
--- a/spec/models/person_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/person_spec.rb
@@ -390,4 +390,7 @@ describe Person do
         should == @person.as_json.merge(:tags =>  @person.profile.tags.map{|t| "##{t.name}"})
     end
   end
+
+  describe '.featured_users' do
+  end
 end