Throughout his life, Nick Belaski has always felt a deep call to help others. As a child, he grew up attending church and saw the impact a faith-based environment can have in shaping and transforming the lives of others.
Now, as executive pastor of Christian Worship Center (CWC) Bay Area in Milpitas, Belaski is doing what he loves most – touching lives and helping lift people through empowerment, service and prayer.
The church opened in San Jose 22 years ago.
Pastor Nick was young at the time, about 21 years old. At that time, the church was led by senior pastor Dan Vera, who still holds that position today.
“We went out to plant the church, not knowing what we were doing,” Pastor Nick said, “but we had a heart to touch lives.”
The church was started at 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, Good Friday Service, Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Service.
The only time they canceled the event was in 2020 when the pandemic started.
“It was our first year where we couldn’t have it,” Pastor Nick said. “It was a little depressing because it’s a really big event and a weekend for us. For us, it’s the importance that we have our Easter start and that the community comes together for the hunts Easter eggs… “
In 2021, they did a small-scale version of their event weekend because people were still hesitant to go out in person.
Now, in 2022, CWC is pulling out all the stops to bring their event back strong:
“It’s like a new grand opening,” Pastor Nick said. “We put a lot of effort into it. Here, we “put all our eggs in one basket”.
The event will start with the Parade of passions Good Friday at 10:30 a.m., April 15. This walk, which will descend Calaveras Road, will be a staging of the carrying of the cross of Jesus. The walk is approximately one mile, and is open to anyone who wants to join. It will begin 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 march of passion, there will be a Good Friday Service at the church, which will begin at noon.
On Saturday April 16, there will be a Easter egg hunt at Gill Park (at Santa Rita Dr & Paseo Refugio) which also starts at noon. The church will hide 16,000 eggs for the community to find. Hidden in some “special” eggs will be raffle tickets. The luckiest participants will win a $100 gift card, a bicycle and a flat-screen TV. There will also be face painting, balloon artists and other vendors. This event takes place from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Finally, on Sunday April 17, there will be two Easter services at the church – one at 9:30 a.m. and one at 11 a.m. There will be free food for all attendees.
Pastor Nick is looking forward to bringing this event back to the Milpitas community:
“Despite being part of South Bay, Milpitas really has its own identity. That’s what I love about it. There’s still a small-town feel to it,” Belaski said. “The community is very tight-knit.
All members of the community are invited to attend one of the events from April 15-17. More information can be found here.
