With the Internet being one of the most popular mediums for communication today whether it be through e-mail, Web sites, blogs, chat rooms or instant messaging, an Orem-based nonprofit organization is helping those surfing the World Wide Web to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At the time, Neeleman was serving as an LDS ward mission leader in his area. He expressed frustration that when people investigating the church or visiting the missionaries would do a Google search for more information about the church and its beliefs, more often than not, they would encounter anti-church sites or links containing misinformation, said Karen Merkley, a foundation spokeswoman.

"The sites left non-members discouraged or deflated and some members disenfranchised," she said.

The More Good Foundation was formed to fill the overwhelming need for increased positive and accurate information about the LDS faith, she said. Whether a person is seeking more information about the church or its beliefs or a church member is interested in starting her own blog or sharing her beliefs online, the foundation is helping to facilitate those connections.

Through a network of 120 Web sites in 12 different languages, people of all faiths and backgrounds can interact with Latter-day Saints, learn more about what they believe, and discuss similarities or differences. Some of the more popular sites include Christ.org, a site dedicated to outlining the teachings, life and ministry of Jesus Christ; LDS.net, social network where Latter-day Saints and friend of other faiths can share beliefs, stories, testimonies, blogs and photos and videos; and Mormon Wiki, an LDS version of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on church topics written by members. Others include MormonChurch.com, MormonTestimonies.org and LDSblogs.com.

Jonathan Johnson, the foundation's president, said the More Good Foundation isn't meant to duplicate the church's job of representing itself to the world. What they're hoping to accomplish is to get people from all around the world, including church members, into the ongoing dialogue about Mormons.

And the fact that the More Good Foundation is an independent, autonomous voice of LDS members sharing their faith may be exactly what those who have questions about the church are looking for.

Using the analogy of university students checking a professor's rating online as a guide for how they pick their classes, Johnson said many seeking to know more about the church are more comfortable asking questions of non-authorities before seeking out official sources.

"We are a voice of people trying out the Gospel," he said. "It's a marvelous experience to give [members] a voice."

Through LDS members sharing their own feelings, conversion stories and interests (Johnson said some readers on his blog were surprised to learn he was a motorcycle racing enthusiast), those with questions about the church can learn that Latter-day Saints aren't a strange sect of people with bizarre beliefs, but ordinary people with extraordinary faith, Merkley said.

"Our mission is to create Web sites where that can happen," she said.

When the story of Texas authorities removing FLDS children from the group's El Dorado ranch grabbed national headlines, Merkley said hits to More Good Foundation Web sites spiked from 15,000 to 45,000 visits from people wanting to know what distinguishes the LDS and FLDS faiths.

In one month alone, LDS.net received over 450,000 visits. Through the foundation's encouragement and messages from church authorities, church members are increasingly sharing photos, video testimonies and personal beliefs through videos on YouTube.com, Facebook.com, and other sites.

Rusty Curtis, 24, a senior advertising major at BYU and a convert to the church, recently penned an online response to a question about LDS garments at Yahoo Answers.

"I wanted it to be thorough because for some reason naysayers love to pounce on that specific issue," he said.

"In the past, you got all this anti-LDS stuff online, but now with my site people can search and find out the full content on what the Church really believes."

Nearly 1,700 visitors from around the world have gone to his blog about LDS doctrines and beliefs since December.

Merkley said many members, including those who created the More Good Foundation, have taken to heart a message LDS leader Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, when he recently admonished members to share their stories and the gospel through the Internet. In the new issue of the church's monthly magazine "Ensign" Ballard's message is reiterated.

"There are conversations going on about the Church constantly," Ballard wrote. "Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them ... Now, may I ask that you join the conversation by participating in the Internet to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration."

Last week, the foundation held a special gathering of LDS.net contributors and administrators, many of them not LDS church members, in Utah, Johnson said.

Among the participants were an atheist, an inactive member, members of other faiths, and newly baptized members of the LDS church.

A prison chaplain who used a foundation site to learn more about what members believe became so intrigued he contacted the church and is taking the missionary discussions, he said.

"If that is in any way a representation of what we have on that site, we feel we're doing the right thing," Johnson said.