RICHMOND, Va. — Bleary-eyed morning exchanges with door-to-door missionaries. Pamphlets promising Armageddon by lunchtime.

Some of the tried and true methods of spreading the gospel haven’t always been the most enjoyable.

Now imagine something a little more adventurous: bounding through a country forest, GPS unit in hand, using decoded coordinates to uncover biblical booty and — enthusiasts hope — a newfound interest in a higher power.

Fans call it geocaching for Christ, and the faithful say this new twist on a tech-savvy hobby helps them strengthen their own beliefs while offering a modern, fun way to spread the word to the uninitiated.

Think of geocaching as a new-millennium take on Dad’s old scavenger hunts: Participants visit Geocaching.com (the official clearinghouse of all things geocache), jot down the geographic coordinates to one of thousands of “caches,’’ then using a handheld global positioning unit as a map, run, jump, climb and even helicopter their way to a box full of goodies.

Cachers generally enjoy the hunt more than anything, and the contents of the caches are pretty basic: A hunt might yield a book or a CD, for example. But when geocacher Martin Berend became a Christian in 2002, he immediately saw a new possibility for caches.

Participants are supposed to replace each item they take from a cache with something of about the same value.

“I began leaving tracts and gospel CDs and sermons on CD in geocaches I would visit,’’ said Berend, who now heads the geocaching ministry at McLean Bible Church, in Vienna, Va. “It just seemed like a Christian-themed cache would be a neat idea.’’

THE WORD SPREADS

Berend wasn’t the only one with the idea.

At Geocaching.com, lists of caches across the globe are dotted with religious themes — everything from “The Word,’’ a series of caches offering Bible verses as clues for stumped geo-hunters, to “ECUSA Welcomes You,’’ a group of 10 caches each containing part of a map of Episcopal churches in the southern Virginia diocese.

The latter is the work of the Rev. John Baldwin, of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach.

Baldwin, who discovered geocaching while visiting England last July, has hidden 15 caches on 14 church properties so far. They include one titled “Kempsville History,’’ which features a history of an Episcopal church there and an invitation to meet the rector. Another called “One of Only Two in the World’’ is hidden on the site of a rare Virginia church that caters to both Catholics and Episcopalians.

He got the idea for “ECUSA Welcomes You’’ — a “puzzle cache’’ in geocache-speak — from another local cacher. About 110 people have visited at least one of the ECUSA caches, signing their name in the logbook inside.

“I saw it as a possibility to really bring into consciousness the presence of this church,’’ said Baldwin, who placed the ECUSA cache in March. “It gets a little recognition to the church in people’s lives.’’

The faithful say the benefits run far deeper.

For folks already in the church, it offers a fun respite from typical Sunday morning activity, promoting Christian fellowship outside the confines of stuffy sanctuaries and hard pews.

But it’s also an ideal way to draw in teens and 20-somethings, who Baldwin said have often formed negative opinions of traditional evangelism.

“That’s a group that is not really very churched at this point in time — but they’re involved in geocaching,’’ said Baldwin, who tucks an invite to his church into each of his caches. “It can plant the seed for someone to say, ‘Maybe I’ll check this out.’’’

It’s easy enough to drop a few Gideon Bibles in a box and wait for them to be discovered. But enthusiasts say Christian-style geocaching also incorporates religious themes — discovery and traveling a preset course, for example — which can lead participants to investigate faith further.

“In geocaching you’ve got different coordinates to find your way. ... It’s similar to the Christian life,’’ said Mike Carroll, operator of The Rock, a Christian camp in Gaylord, Mich., that will host a geocaching event in late July.

“For those who are Christian, our coordinates come from God’s word.’’

IN THE BEGINNING

The first geocache was hidden in May 2000, according to Bryan Roth, co-founder of Groundspeak, which operates Geocaching.com. It was that summer that President Clinton signed a bill increasing the accuracy of GPS units available on the market, Roth said.

Before the switch, recreational GPS units were used mostly by boaters and came within 300 feet of an exact location. After; afterward, GPS units could come within 15 feet of pinpoint accuracy.

To celebrate, an Oregon man hid a hastily crafted treasure box, posted the geographical coordinates online and challenged friends to find it, Roth said. Within three days, someone had found the box containing a can of beans and a logbook, and geocaching was born.

“There are now just under 300,000 (caches) worldwide in 200-plus countries,’’ he said. “Since the technology has become so much more accessible, the variety of people who participate has grown drastically.’’

Cachers exchange quips and tips about caches online, and even have their own lingo, dubbing all non-cachers “muggles.’’ As the subculture has grown, the caches have morphed, away from the can-o-beans model to what Roth calls “level 5’’ caches. Those may involve hiking boots, underwater equipment or even a kayak to reach the coordinates.

But there are rules. Among them: No turning the sport/hobby/addiction into a political platform. Each cache is typically approved through geocaching.com via regional facilitators, Roth said.

A cache the Rev. Baldwin recently proposed urging finders to donate to Hurricane Katrina victims was turned down.

“We recognize that we don’t own the game, but we are in the unique role of being custodians of the game,’’ said Roth, whose site carries heavy sway with legions of geocachers. “We really don’t want the sport to become a platform.’’

It leaves folks like Carroll walking a thin line. Push the Christian angle too hard, and your cache might be blackballed. But say too little, and you’ll miss out on a great opportunity to share the word through a cool hobby.

For now, Carroll plans to stick cards with words representing Christian goals, such as “peace’’ or “love,’’ into his caches.

“We really believe that it’s going to make an impact,’’ he said. “A distinct difference in peoples’ lives.’’

LEARNING THE LINGO

As geocaching has caught on, so too has the lingo used by these high-tech hunters. Before you try your hand at geocaching, learn a little of the language — or be branded a muggle...

• Geocache or cache: A container of items that is meant for discovery and logging. Items typically include candy, CDs or books.

• Mystery or puzzle cache: A cache that involves complicated puzzles. Solve clues in one cache, and you’ll determine the coordinates of the next cache in the puzzle. Later, all the clues may form a map or something similar.

• Multistage cache: This involves two or more locations with the final location being the physical container. There are many variations, but most have a hint at the first location that leads to the next location.

• Geocoin: A coin that is used by geocachers as a signature item. Often emblazoned with a unique icon and collected by those who discover the cache. Some can be very rare and have sold on eBay for thousands of dollars.

• Benchmark: A permanently affixed object that allows land surveys, civil engineering and mapping to be done efficiently. It’s usually a metal disk, and some geocache fans like to hunt them.

• Waymarking: An offshoot of geocaching, waymarking replaces boxes of goodies with landmarks, dog-friendly hotels, funny shaped buildings or anything else quirky and cool to look at.

• Muggle: A common term to refer to a non-geocacher. It was taken from the Harry Potter series. Muggled also refers to theft of a cache by a non geocacher.

Associated Press asap service contributor Dionne Walker is a reporter in the AP’s Richmond bureau.