Live video conference calls between members of U.S.-based churches and their missionaries overseas. Sound overambitious? Maybe so, especially when it involves places like Tanzania, where electricity and phone service is intermittent. And that might be why the idea never had takers when missionary Gary Woods suggested it to his supporting churches.

Until last summer. That's when Woods and La Plata Christian Church in Missouri connected for a 20-minute video conference made possible through Skype, an online phone service. Both children and adults lined up during a Sunday service, waiting patiently for their turn to ask Gary and his wife Judy questions about their efforts to plant churches in Tanzania, and life in one of the world's poorest nations.

"My hope is that having 'real-time' communication with missionaries will help people to be more interested and involved in overseas missions," Woods said.

The concept resonated with Jeremy Lobdell, La Plata's pastor. The nondenominational church ...