Tim Tebow puts Life Surge role on ice after Mother Jones story

The former pro football player said Friday that he was pausing his relationship with Life Surge after a report accused the faith-based conference company of pushing people into expensive investment programs. Tebow, a professing Christian, previously served as an ambassador for Life Surge and has been one of the company’s featured speakers at its faith and finance events. He spoke to reporters in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday in advance of a college football game.

A joint investigation by Pablo Torre Finds Out, a podcast, and Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, was released on Thursday. Torre and Mother Jones wrote that Life Surge used prominent Christian speakers to attract attendees before steering them toward costly investment and financial training programs. Some attendees said they felt pressured into spending heavily on the courses, according to Jones and Torre’s reporting.

When asked about the allegations, Tebow acknowledged that the claims were serious and that he was pausing their relationship, while his team did its own investigation. He said he hadn’t known of the allegations and was caught off guard when his team informed him.

What did Life Surge say? In a statement posted online after Tebow’s remarks, Life Surge said it stood behind its work with Tebow and added that media reports haven’t told the whole story. Thousands of its students have had experiences in stark contrast with the narrative presented in the media reports, it said. Life Surge said it had built in safeguards and compliance infrastructure. Additional facts and context that it provided to reporters were not included in publication, the company said.

Torres earlier posted a statement from Life Surge on his website. In that statement, the company said it was committed to transparency regarding the cost of its programs. Life Surge said that the programs were completely optional and said that the investing classes were only meant to be a starting point. They also said that Tebow’s compensation was not tied to sales of investment classes and that he was not asked to endorse those programs.

WORLD has reached out directly to Life Surge for comment and will update this story with any updates received.