Membership at a Distance?

Tonight I was looking up a church out of state for a trip I might possibly be making in a few months and noticed on their web page that they promoted people worshipped with them worldwide via the internet. They even had a testimony of someone from another state who moved and yet had been "worshipping" and "members" of this church for the past two years via the internet. Seeing this made me have to pose the question, is this really membership? Can someone truly be a member of a church via the internet when they are hours away? Is this truly beneficial to the "member" or does it simply look good for church statistics? Membership into the body of Christ was not intended to be done at our convenience or simply on our own terms. In order for us to truly be in communion with a church body, where we are held accountable and partake in the Lord's Supper and baptism and sit under the correct teaching of the Word, we must be present with the body. To me it degrades what it is to be the church and endangers the "members" if they are allowed to simply "worship" via the internet without truly being a part of the body. Not only is this dangerous for the "member" it is also dangerous for the pastor. The book of Hebrews makes it clear that the pastor is responsible for those under his care. It seems impossible to me for the pastor to ensure the spiritual growth, accountability, and discipline a member needs when they are only present via the world wide web. My advice to people who are "members" of a church in this way; get involved in a local church that teaches the word and you can truly be in fellowship with fellow believers in deep meaningful relationships. My advice to any pastors out there who have members who are hours, possibly states, away that are still claiming membership to your church, do the loving, shepherding thing and point them to a biblical church body in their area.