Tebow’s PR Team Made Aware Of Life Surge Allegations Since At Least 2025
Former football star Tim Tebow’s announcement that he’s hitting the brakes on his relationship with Christian wealth-building seminar Life Surge is getting pushback from fans who say Tebow knew nothing of its controversies.
But Tebow was warned more than a year ago by Roys Report, which sent his team a detailed list of questions about the seminar. He has been a headliner for the seminar dozens of times in recent years.
Not until Sept. 25, the day after the podcast Pablo Torres Finds Out (PTFO) and magazine Mother Jones released a monthslong investigation into several allegations, did Tebow break ranks.
And that was only to make a vague announcement.
“The allegations are extremely, extremely serious,” Tebow told reporters. “We’re having our team do an investigation but also pausing our relationship until we can learn more about the facts.”
When asked if he was aware of the controversies prior to the investigation, Tebow only said he was “caught off guard with some of it,” referring to the Torres podcast.
He didn’t mention RR, which published a lengthy investigation about Life Surge on Oct. 23, 2025, nearly a year before the podcast and magazine reports.
Tebow’s exit has caused a small tsunami of other Christian celebrities to sever ties with the business. Pastor Craig Groeschel of the Edmond, Oklahoma-based Life.Church and Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, both speakers with Life Surge, have also departed, according to Religion News Service.
Tebow’s public relations team has long been aware of many issues surrounding Life Surge. RR contacted Tebow’s team through Instagram on July 29, 2025, and was then told to send all media questions to a specific PR email address. RR did so that same day but never received a response.
Later, Life Surge’s PR team told RR that Tebow’s team had alerted it about receiving that July 2025 email.
RR’s investigation was based on reports that the event is a “bait and switch” operation. It draws in crowds with celebrity Christian speakers but then uses sales tactics, critics say, to pressure attendees into signing up for high-price financial classes.
The email from RR to Tebow’s team contained several questions:
— How did (Tebow) get connected with Life Surge?
— What is his involvement in the event beyond speaking? Is he aware of the financial classes/programs Life Surge encourages attendees to take?
— Why is he comfortable being associated with this event?
— What is his response to attendees who felt drawn to the event by the speaker lineup, only to later find themselves in great financial difficulty because of programs they felt spiritually pressured to sign up for?
— What is his fee for appearing at this event?
Mother Jones estimated that based on an estimate of $100,000 per appearance for the years 2024-26, Tebow could be bringing in anywhere from $2 million to $4 million from Life Surge.
RR’s investigation featured interviews with Life Surge attendees who said they lost significant sums of money after signing up for expensive financial training programs after attending the event.
One attendee described the experience to RR as “manipulative,” with trusted Christian celebrities drawing crowds to an event that became “one big sales funnel” for programs and classes.
RR was not the first to report on the many concerns being voiced about Life Surge, but it was the first to report on some of the allegations. The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Tampa Bay Times had also reported on either the seminar or its CEO and founder, Joe Johnson.
RR contacted Tebow’s PR team again Sept. 28 for comment and to ask whether it ever presented the original questions to Tebow. It did not send a response before time of publication.
Life Surge posted a statement on its website in response to the PTFO podcast and Mother Jones coverage.
“Life Surge strongly disagrees with the characterization of our company presented in recent reporting,” it states. “We will not apologize for who we are, what we believe, or the work we do.”
It also stated that the company’s respect for Tebow “has not changed.”
“Tim has made the decision to pause his relationship with Life Surge while his team reviews the allegations and gathers additional facts,” the company stated. “We respect that this is his decision to make.”
This article was originally published by The Roys Report.
Ann Marie Shambaugh has reported as a print journalist in multiple states, including currently in Carmel, Indiana.