(Blog) Stuff That Works: Church or Mosque? - Ep. 980 - September 22, 2026

When Churches Become Mosques: Smith and Rowland on What the Church Has Lost

An 80-year-old Lutheran church in Warren, Michigan, is now an Islamic center. If you remember a church like it in your own community, the change raises a hard question: what happened to the congregation that once met there?

For Alan Smith and Jeff Rowland, the building is part of a larger concern about faith being passed on. They discuss the growth of mosques in Warren, then turn to church closures, evangelism, repentance, and the practices they believe Christians have set aside. Their starting point is the report that brought Warren to their attention.

Churches Become Islamic Centers in Warren, Michigan

Smith and Rowland discuss a Prophecy News Watch article titled "When Churches Become Mosques: The Changing Face of an American City." The report describes a Lutheran church that stood for more than 80 years before becoming the Al Hassan Islamic Center. Its steeple no longer bears a cross. A former Baptist church has also become an Islamic center.

The article names other changes nearby: an old industrial machinery business became a mosque, and another large mosque was under construction. According to the report, residents identified five new mosques within seven miles of a Warren neighborhood featured in a Fox News investigation.

"Islam is building. Christianity is selling."

That line from the article stays with both hosts. They focus less on the existence of a new mosque than on the fact that former Christian churches now house Islamic worship.

A neighborhood changed within a decade

The report describes Warren's earlier character through its auto workers, veterans, modest homes, families, and neighborhood churches. One longtime resident, who returned 13 years ago and bought his childhood home, told Fox News that the neighborhood changed dramatically after he came back. He described the shift as taking place within a decade.

Smith and Rowland also read about Warren planning meetings. At an April 2025 meeting, a Muslim resident requested approval for an Islamic center on behalf of the city's growing Muslim community. Another resident said worshipers traveled farther to pray and wanted a local mosque because they pray five times a day. Later proposals concerned an expanded prayer facility, minarets at an existing mosque, and a worship center on 13 Mile Road.

What Happens When a Church Building Is Sold?

The former church buildings lead Smith and Rowland into questions about ownership and money. They speculate about how a Lutheran or Baptist congregation might sell its property and whether a denomination would receive the proceeds. They don't establish how either Warren property was owned or where the sale money went.

Smith recalls that Grace Place bought its own building from a church denomination, though he can't remember whether it was Wesleyan or Methodist. He has long found it strange that churches can be bought and sold. The hosts also briefly wonder whether nonprofit status affects whom a church can sell to, without settling the legal question.

Both say they would rather see a former church building demolished than sold for use as a mosque. Smith suggests retaining the land for another purpose, such as a cemetery. These are their judgments about the sales, not claims about what every congregation must do with a closed building.

The Hosts' Concern Goes Beyond the Buildings

Rowland argues that the changes in Warren involve immigration as well as religious life. In his view, Muslim families settled in the area and built institutions to serve their community; he doesn't think the growth began with a cleric converting an established neighborhood. He also attributes spiritual intent to border policies he opposes. Those claims are his interpretation of the report.

The question he keeps returning to is the church's response. If Muslims arrived in the neighborhood, he asks, why didn't local Christians share the gospel with them? He says he still believes in the power of the gospel, which makes him ask whether churches preached it, reached their new neighbors, and remained attentive to the Holy Spirit.

For the hosts, a former church becoming a mosque is especially painful because a congregation had already left that building. Rowland says the church must reckon with its own losses instead of treating Warren as a story about someone else.

Smith brings the discussion closer to home. He says officials in Mooresville, North Carolina, had recently discussed a proposed mosque at a city council meeting. He recalls being told only months earlier that there were no Muslims nearby. The meeting, he says, made that claim difficult to accept.

Judgment, Repentance, and the Ruins in Amos 9

Smith and Rowland connect the state of the church to their belief that America has turned from God. Smith points to abortion and harm to children as actions he believes will bring God's judgment. He worries that many churches no longer experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit as they once did, though he says God is still moving in some places. Rowland describes the faithful remnant as growing smaller.

Their historical comparison is the Altar of Pergamon. Smith recalls Jonathan Cahn's discussion of the altar's move from Turkey to Germany and connects its presence there with Hitler's rise and Germany's antisemitism. Both hosts interpret that history in terms of demonic influence. They raise it while discussing what they believe happens when a nation gives ground to evil.

Rowland then turns to Amos 9 and God's promise to restore the fallen tabernacle of David and raise up ruins. "Identify the ruins" becomes his point: a church cannot seek restoration while insisting that everything is getting better.

He names old-time preaching and praise among the practices he believes have fallen into disuse. He cites Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and R. G. Lee's Payday Someday as sermons about judgment that, in his view, helped shape Christians and prepare the way for revival. He argues that revival was central to America's beginnings and that the church should return to repentance, preaching the gospel, and winning souls.

Passing the Faith to the Next Generation

Smith draws on the biblical charge to Israel to keep God's word and hand it to the next generation. Each generation, he says, must receive that faith, keep it, and pass it on again.

He pushes back against the complaint that there are no mentors or spiritual fathers left. In his view, older believers are willing to teach, but many younger Christians reject what they offer. He says some want to redefine encounters with God outside the boundaries of Scripture rather than receive the older generation's understanding of the Holy Spirit.

Rowland agrees that this rejection has consequences. He recalls the response to the second temple: younger people celebrated, while older people wept because they remembered what had come before. He identifies with those older worshipers. He calls himself an old-fashioned preacher and says he has no intention of changing simply because his approach is out of date.

"Some Things Old School Are Better"

Smith makes the case for keeping what works through a visit to his doctor. Before the appointment, a home blood pressure cuff gave him a reading of 152 over 97. At the office, his doctor measured 121 over 81.

Smith recalls an earlier heart doctor's warning that newer push-button cuffs didn't give reliable readings for him and that his blood pressure should be checked the old-fashioned way. When he told his current doctor, the doctor said that was why he remained "old school." Smith's point isn't that everything new is bad. A replacement, he says, should work better than what it replaces.

Church style isn't the same as the Holy Spirit

The hosts apply that distinction to worship. Neither objects to smoke machines or lights in themselves. They object to treating those effects as evidence that the Holy Spirit is present, or as equipment a church needs to welcome Him.

Smith also regrets labeling one style of music "worship music," because he believes it can imply that other ways of praising God don't count. Rowland makes a similar point about preaching. A preacher's sweat doesn't prove the message is anointed, but sweating heavily shouldn't be dismissed as a religious spirit either.

Their concern extends to Bible translations. Both defend the King James Bible and criticize the impulse to replace it simply because it is old. Their comments are part of the same argument: they believe Christians should not discard a practice that still serves them.

Smith closes the comparison with his wife's old-fashioned fried pies. She tried baking one as well as frying one, and the hosts joke that a baked pie can't rightly be called a fried pie. The story gives them a lighter way to repeat a serious conviction: a change in method doesn't automatically improve the result.

The Question Warren Leaves With Them

For Smith and Rowland, the former churches in Warren are a visible loss. They believe the church must admit what has fallen, repent, and recover its commitment to Scripture, evangelism, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Their argument comes back to what those buildings once held. Passing on faith takes more than preserving a familiar church exterior; it takes believers willing to receive what was handed to them and carry it forward.

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