SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A dozen Mormon missionaries are again taking off their trademark white shirts for a calendar that seeks to strip away stereotypes about their church.

The 2009 version of the Men on Mission calendar was released Thursday — two months after its creator was excommunicated by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for producing this year’s calendar.“I know they did what they thought was right,” Chad Hardy said.

The calendar was intended to shake up the straight-laced, cookie-cutter Mormon stereotype that doesn’t fit many in the church.

“People like me are bound to stereotypes that don’t fit,” Hardy said. “I think we can all have the same faith and still have different outlooks.”

Hardy was excommunicated July 13 by a panel of church leaders for conduct unbecoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the pictures the 12 men pose shirtless in black suit slacks.At least one model from the 2008 edition was asked to explain his involvement, but no church disciplinary action was taken.Calendar model Cody Bloomfield, who graces the 2009 cover, said he’s not worried about disciplinary action. He said shining a light on the church’s younger members is good.

“A lot of people think that because all our leaders are 90-year-old and stand behind podiums, we’re all like that. But it’s not all rules and organization,” the 22-year-old Irvine, Calif., college student said. “Young people in the church obviously keep the standards and the rules of the church, but we look at them differently.”

Hardy sold nearly 11,000 copies of the 2008 edition at $14.99 each. News reports of his excommunication have helped secure a larger U.S. distribution and international contracts for 2009.It’s also helped draw a flood of would-be missionary models for 2010, when the plans feature a second calendar featuring female church members under the title “Hot Mormons Muffins: A taste of motherhood.”

Lifetime Mormon and mother of four Lisa J. Wood of St. George hopes to be Miss October.

Wood agrees with the break-the-mold thinking that drives the calendar, but said she has other reasons for wanting to be among the first of Hardy’s pinup girls. As a single mom, the 35-year-old said she often feels judged by others in the family-centered church.

“Mormons in general are taught not to judge,” said Wood. “I’ve never been one that does anything by the norm and I’d much rather show that I’m an individual and still a good person.”

The 2009 calendar launch is tied to an e-Bay auction of the red-sashed robe worn by Bloomfield on the cover. Proceeds of the auction will benefit Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes the loss of muscle function. About 20,000 babies are born with the disease each year, most of them boys.

After seeing a story about the calendar, a North Carolina man who’s 5-year-old son has the disease called Hardy seeking information about producing a calendar of his own. After learning about the disease, Hardy hatched the auction idea.

“When I was a kid I was diagnosed with a spastic muscle disorder and I had to relearn how to crawl and walk, so that’s why it hit home with me,” he said.

The 2008 calendar generated $5,000 for the models’ favorite charities.

The 2009 calendar includes a disclaimer that it is not associated with or endorsed by the Salt Lake City-based church.