Throughout his entire life, Nick Belaski has always felt a deep calling to help other people. As a child, he grew up going to church, and saw the impact that a faith-based environment can have in shaping and transforming the lives of others.
Now, as Executive Pastor of the Christian Worship Center (CWC) Bay Area in Milpitas, Belaski is doing what he loves most – touching lives and helping to lift people up through empowerment, service, and prayer.
The church first opened in San Jose 22 years ago.
Pastor Nick was young then, about 21. At that time, the church was being led by Senior Pastor Dan Vera, who is still there serving in that position today.
“We came out to plant the church, not knowing what we were doing,” said Pastor Nick, “but we had a heart to touch lives.”
The church was launched in Eastside San Jose at Overfelt High School on Easter Sunday.
In 2008, they moved their location to Milpitas.
And for over two decades now, they’ve been celebrating Easter weekend through a series of events that include a Passion Parade, a Good Friday Service, an Easter Egg Hunt, and an Easter Service.
The only time they ever canceled the event was in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
“That was our first year we couldn’t have it,” said Pastor Nick. “That was kind of a downer because this is a really big event and weekend for us. For us, it’s the significance of us having our start on Easter, and the community coming together for the easter egg hunts…”
In 2021, they did a small-scale version of their event weekend, since people were still hesitant about coming out in-person.
Now, in 2022, CWC is pulling out all the stops, bringing back their event full-force:
“It’s like a re-grand opening,” said Pastor Nick. “We’re putting a lot of effort into this. We’re ‘putting all our eggs in one basket’ here.”
The event will kick off with the Passion Parade on Good Friday at 10:30am, on April 15. This walk, which will go down Calaveras Road, will be an enactment of Jesus’ carrying of the cross. The walk is about a mile, and is open to anyone who wants to join. It will start at the site where the new Chick-fil-A is being built, and end at the steps of the CWC Bay Area Church (241 S. Main Street).
After the Passion Walk, there will be a Good Friday Service at the Church, which will start at noon.
On Saturday, April 16, there will be an Easter Egg Hunt at Gill Park (at Santa Rita Dr & Paseo Refugio) that also starts at noon. The church will be hiding 16,000 eggs for the community to find. Hidden in certain “special” eggs will be raffle tickets. The luckiest participants will win a $100 gift card, a bike, and a flat screen TV. There will also be face painting, balloon artists, and other vendors. This event goes from 12pm to 2pm.
Finally, on Sunday, April 17, there will be two Easter Services at the church – one at 9:30am and one at 11am. There will be free food for all who attend.
Pastor Nick is looking forward to bringing this event back to the Milpitas community:
“Although it’s a part of the South Bay, Milpitas really has its own identity. That’s what I love about it. It still has a small town feel to it,” said Pastor Belaski. “The community is very tight.”
All in the community are welcome to attend any of the events from April 15-17. More info can be found here.
