The group recently put up its first advertising billboard in Cache Valley, featuring the PostMormon.org Web link and a "smiley" face. Limited funding meant it only stayed up for 30 days, but publicity as a result of the sign resulted in a surge of hits on the group's Web site — from an average of 300,000 to 400,000 per month to 2.5 million hits in April.

Additional 30-day billboards will go up May 25 on a highway between Idaho Falls and Rexburg, and July 9 somewhere in Provo, he said. PostMormon.org recently registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, and fund-raising on the Web site pays for the billboards. Membership on the site's message boards has grown from about 850 to nearly 1,200 since the first billboard went up.

Ricks stressed that the organization is not "anti-Mormon. We want to reach out to people who have left the church without upsetting people who are still in the church." Consequently, the group doesn't try to "recruit" Latter-day Saints or persuade them to leave their faith. It does seek to support those who are leaving of their own accord, he said.

Dobbs said his organization takes a similar tack. "We're here to support people in their faith journey," whether they ultimately decide to leave the LDS Church or return to it, he said.

A returned LDS missionary, Ricks said he felt alone and isolated when he decided he no longer believed what the church teaches. But he soon found others who were either leaving or had left the church and were looking for support — "a place to talk" about all the changes that take place in lifestyle and relationships as a result.

While the LDS Church updates its membership figures regularly, it doesn't release figures on how many people formally resign their membership with written notice to the church through a local bishop or stake president. It is safe to say that a significant percentage of people listed as church members are not active in their faith.

Ricks said his organization exists both for those who have resigned, and those who are thinking about leaving. He regularly gets comments on the Web site from people who say "I didn't know there were other people like me out there."

"Every time that happens, I love it because I felt the same way," he said. "I started this because I wanted to find out if there were any others out there." He began the organization with an informal meeting at a restaurant after putting an ad in the local newspaper. Two people showed up, but at the next meeting a few more trickled in. His Cache Valley chapter now draws from eight to 20 people per meeting.