The Web site of Tower Presbyterian Church in Grove City, Pa., was one of 18 across the nation that were hacked this week and revised to promote conversion to Islam. All of the church Web sites affected by the cyber-attack are hosted by a Perrysburg, Ohio Web designer whose company hosts and designs Web sites for about 60 churches.

A computer hacker took control of more than a dozen church Web sites hosted by a Perrysburg designer this week, replacing their regular content with an appeal that Christians convert to Islam.

The Rev. Vinnie Dauer of Fallen Timbers Community Church in Waterville said he received a text message from a church member at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday telling him someone had posted “Muslim propaganda” on the church’s Web site.

The cyber-attack surprised church leaders there, who wondered why anyone would target their small congregation’s Web site.

“It was unnerving, but I think also it was an indicator to me of the different world we live in,” said Mr. Dauer, the assistant pastor at Fallen Timbers. “No one could walk into this church building and put up propaganda that’s contradictory to our belief system, but yet our Web site is a representation of who we are.”

The Fallen Timbers site was quickly taken down by Ryan Leisure, whose Web company, R Leisure Enterprises, designs and hosts sites for about 60 churches across the country. Of those, 18 came under attack, some as far away as Texas and California.

Mr. Leisure, himself a member of Fallen Timbers, said his primary work comes from private businesses, but as a Christian he wanted to do something to help smaller churches reach out to their communities.

The hacker, who identified himself as a Muslim hacker and signed his work “Mr. HAiL,” somehow gained access to Mr. Leisure’s entire portfolio of sites, though only the church sites were altered.

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