Shantanu’s Story

Shantanu Sharma was born and raised in New Delhi, India as a member of the Brahmin caste— the highest religious caste in Hinduism. Needless to say, he was steeped in religion from the moment he was born. After coming to the United States for graduate school at Duke University, he met a girl named Savannah, who invited him to Passion City Church. Shantanu was incredibly smart and logical, and thought if there were many ways to the same God, why would he give up being in the highest caste in Hinduism to follow some historical figure named Jesus? Sunday after Sunday he would show up to church, but Savannah noticed Shantanu scrolling on his phone during the gatherings, so she sneakily signed him up to be a Door Holder. It was here that God started surrounding him with amazing believers, including many from India. He also got connected to a Monday night bible study with other men in his same stage of life who would pray for him and point him towards Jesus.

There were many Sundays when he would hear Pastor Louie speak about historical documents that validified scripture, and he even read the book “The Case for Christ,” where he saw the logical thread in the story of Jesus. But he was still trying to understand how He was the only way. The guys in his bible study, the Door Holders he served with, and Savannah would continue to be on their knees and pray for his eyes to be opened to the way of Jesus. Shantanu began to read God’s Word, and when he came upon John 14:6, it was like Jesus’ words were illuminated on the page. Jesus says about himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It was so clear to him at that moment… no one comes to God except through Jesus. There are not multiple paths to one God, but it is only through Jesus that we can have eternal life with Him.

As he continued to attend church, he felt the nudge week after week to raise his hand during the response at the end of the gathering, but this was such a big step, and he had many hesitations. It would be extremely hard to share with his Hindu parents and other family members about his decision to follow this man named Jesus. But one Sunday, Pastor Grant was preaching on Ephesians, and at the end of the message when he asked if anyone would like to surrender their lives to Jesus, Shantanu could not keep his hand down any longer. He surrendered everything to Jesus and went from death to LIFE! This story is a testimony to some of the most important parts of our House. One, an incredible church family that loved Shantanu and pointed him toward Jesus. Two, many people were praying for Shantanu to come to know Jesus. And three, because God’s Word is central to everything we do, His Word doesn’t return void. It accomplished its purposes and judged the thoughts and attitudes of Shantanu’s heart. Because of that, he is alive forever in Jesus.

Savannah and Shantanu went through UNITE Marriage Mentorship and eventually got married. You may see their bright smiles on a Sunday at our 515 location serving on the Experience Team. Just a few months ago, Shantanu made an important step in his journey to be baptized. Moments before, he paused and prayed with his baptizer specifically that what God did in his story would have an eternal impact on people who were attending the gatherings that day and that someone would come to know Jesus as a result. That same day, two girls who were attending Passion for the first time that Sunday were experimenting with world religions, and would consider themselves ‘religious’, but searching for truth. Through hearing Shantanu’s story and the word brought that day, one of the girls, Monique, realized that it wasn’t enough to just know the truth; she wanted that ‘death to life’ moment for herself and decided to put her faith and trust in Jesus.