Ex-NFL star Tim Tebow tied to evangelical Christian group accused of using high-pressure tactics to push followers into debt

Heisman-winning quarterback Tim Tebow is under fire for his ties to Life Surge, a for-profit Christian organization accused of using faith and high-pressure tactics to push customers into debt.

‘I am so devastated that Christians like Tim Tebow made me trust in something that has taken so much money from me,’ read a complaint submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and revealed by Mother Jones. ‘This is evil, especially because I’m disabled on a limited income.’

Life Surge has denied the accusations through spokesman Richard Lorenzen, who told Mother Jones that the company ‘does not condone using a person’s religious faith, fear, or spiritual beliefs to pressure that individual into purchasing a product.’

But according to a dozen Life Surge customers who spoke to Mother Jones, as well as others who have filed complaints with the FTC, the company attracts customers with cheap tickets, only to push high-priced seminars. Attendees spending as little as $20 for events are offered to enroll in three-day ‘impact classes’ for $97. Those three-day events include offers for SurgeU, where packages range from $10,000 to $40,000, according to Mother Jones.

Those who can’t afford to spend five figures on faith-based investment seminars are guided to a third-party lender, sometimes with the use of high-pressure tactics, Mother Jones reported. One customer said Life Surge quickly arranged for her to get a new American Express card with a $25,000 limit.

‘I was pretty hesitant,’ Karen Neal, a 61-year-old former Life Surge customer, told Mother Jones, as seen in a recent episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out. ‘I was like, “We don’t, you know, we don’t have the money to do this.”

‘They brought in an outside, like, I guess a loan company or a company that would find credit cards, for you to use a credit card with 0-percent interest for a certain period of time.

‘So they told us, “Why don’t we get you a credit card for more than the $13,000 so that that way you’ve got some extra money on the credit card that you can use that for business stuff.’

‘Okay, that sounds like a great idea,’ she continued. ‘So, they got us approved for like $25,000 on an American Express card.’

Life Surge speakers even suggested customers use their home as collateral to borrow money for the courses. 

‘”You have your own house,”‘ Neal said, paraphrasing what she claimed to have been told by Life Surge. ‘”Don’t you have equity in your own house? Go use some of the equity in your own house.”‘

Now Neal is horrified to look back at the Life Surge tactics.

‘I see many of these strong Christian artists and strong Christian people that are up there speaking at the Life Surge conferences,’ Neal told Mother Jones. ‘And it’s like, do they know what’s happening to some of these people that are getting into this?’

Neal’s complaint echoed those of others unearthed by Mother Jones, as well as a Reddit page titled: ‘Is Life Surge Christian Conference a scam?’

‘We believed that it would be a Christian-based day of like-minded businesspeople,’ wrote one customer in an FTC complaint. ‘We did not expect a bait and switch and the pressure to purchase investing classes. We are very disappointed but also concerned by the amount of people bought into this.’

The organization does not preach the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God rewards strong faith and financial donations with material wealth, but rather the concept of ‘kingdom impact’: The more money one makes, the more they can do for God.

A popular public speaker since ending his NFL and minor-league baseball careers, Tebow is described by the organization as a ‘Kingdom Ambassador’ and spoke at 20 Life Surge events between 2024 and 2025, according to Mother Jones, which reports he’s on pace for that many in 2026 alone.

As a result, Mother Jones puts his estimated potential total from Life Surge somewhere between $2 million and $4 million.

The Daily Mail has sought comment from the Tim Tebow Foundation and Life Surge. Tebow did not respond to Mother Jones’ request for comment.

Not all of the reviews of Life Surge are negative, Mother Jones reported. Many described the experience as life changing, while encouraging others to partake.

Lorenzen told Mother Jones that headline speakers are not asked to promote or endorse Impact Classes or any other advanced training programs, but nevertheless, the website still unearthed footage of Tebow doing exactly that: ‘o I know that many of you today have probably signed up for classes, have probably signed up to take the next step. I want to encourage you to finish that, to follow through on that commitment, to finish strong.’

For its part, Life Surge has defended itself against claims of high-pressure sales tactics, saying the company ‘does not train its representatives to pressure customers into borrowing or taking on debt they cannot afford.’

Mother Jones also reported the periodic disclaimers shared with the crowds, warning about the inherent risks of investing, and Lorenzen stressed that Life Surge doesn’t promise wealth to its customers.

But one concerned Life Surge employee explained things far differently on the condition of anonymity.

‘You’ve heard all about the people who are losing thousands and thousands of dollars and just are being asked to cash in their 401Ks and piggyback credit cards in order to pay for these classes,’ the employee told Mother Jones. ‘It just doesn’t seem like something a good Christian motivational speaker or pastor would want to be a part of.’

Tebow has now been out of the NFL for five years after a failed attempt to make the Jacksonville Jaguars as a tight end in 2021. These days, the 39-year-old former University of Florida and Denver Broncos star works as an analyst for ESPN and the SEC Network, while continuing his extensive philanthropic work.