Ventilacion arrived in Rapid City in April. He says that since he was not involved with the purchase of the property, he could not speak to the full extent of the plans the church has for the area.

"We want to build a house of worship for the people, but we need to build our membership first," Vetilacion said. "Attendance has gone up little by little, but we're at 10 or 15 members so far living in Sturgis, Deadwood, Scenic and Rapid City."

One member of the congregation, Fred White, said that he never found the answers he was looking for as a Lutheran, but with Iglesia ni Cristo, he said he's never short of one.

"There's not a question about God I can ask that they can't open the Bible to and find an answer to," White said. "You can't really beat that."

White has been a member of Iglesia ni Cristo for 21 years since joining a Bible Study group in Oakland, Calif., in 1994, and his faith has taken him to Scenic, where he's the caretaker of Iglesia ni Cristo's land and a deacon in the church.

White's wife, Rosalina, said that while she initially wondered what Scenic could hold for the church, she has found the area "very peaceful and beautiful."