We Told Tebow’s Team About Life Surge Last Year

SPEAKERS: Julie Roys, Ann Marie Shambaugh

Note: This is a rough transcript and may contain some errors or mistranscriptions.

LifeSurge promotional clip: Was there something you knew about?

This is not just a conference. It is an experience.

Because when you increase, God will increase.

Live and in person, this is not another virtual event.

But at the end of the day, they’re there to sell you on an idea that going into debt is okay as long as it’s kingdom-driven. And let me tell you, I’ve got plenty of Bible verses that say the opposite.

And it’s involving a roster of celebrities and sports figures that I think is unparalleled in the world of Christian roadshow business.

Because I think what somebody like Tim Tebow should realize is that this is about much more than money. This is about people’s faith.

You know, kind of caught off guard with some of it. And I think that’s why they’re really trying to understand more of the facts, to really learn it.

Be here. Be ready. Be ready for God to move.

I can’t wait to see you at LifeSurge.

Julie Roys: So Tim Tebow has been in hot water since last Thursday, when Mother Jones and Pablo Torre published a joint investigation on LifeSurge.

This is a company that hires big-name Christian celebrities like Tim Tebow to headline their conferences, billed as inspirational events that will transform your finances.

But as Mother Jones and Torre reported, many say the events are a bait-and-switch. They lure you in with these big-name speakers and worship music, and then they hit you with high-pressure sales to enroll in their $97 Impact Classes.

And there they try to sell you a series of courses on how to make money in real estate or stocks. And those classes are really expensive, ranging from $10,000 to $40,000.

And rather than becoming wealthier, many LifeSurge attendees say the courses left them heavily in debt.

Well, facing heavy backlash and criticism, Tebow announced Friday, the day after the exposé published, that he was pausing his relationship with LifeSurge while his team investigated the allegations.

And good for him. I think that’s a great next step.

But here’s the problem: We reported the same allegations a year ago.

Here’s our article on LifeSurge, dated October 23, 2025. But months before publishing, in July 2025, our reporter, Anne-Marie Shambaugh, reached out to Tim Tebow for comment.

And we know his team received our message because they responded to us.

But on Friday, Tim Tebow acted like this was all new to him.

Listen to how he responded to a reporter.

Listen, I like Tim Tebow. At least I did. But this is just not truthful.

Tim, you and your team have known about these allegations since July of last year.

And when we published an exposé very similar to the one published by Mother Jones and Pablo Torre, with documentation and firsthand testimony, you didn’t do anything.

It wasn’t until a larger platform published and you got a ton of backlash that you finally paused your relationship with LifeSurge.

But until then, you continued to take an estimated $100,000 per speaking engagement, potentially pocketing as much as $2 million to $4 million in the past year.

It’s time to come clean and just admit that.

This is not new to you.

So I want to show all of you the correspondence our reporter, Anne-Marie Shambaugh, had with Tim’s team.

But first, I want to bring Anne-Marie on.

So hi, Anne-Marie, and thanks so much for joining me.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Julie Roys: So as I recall, you spent a long time investigating LifeSurge.

When did you begin that investigation?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, I believe it was in the summer of 2024. So it was quite a while.

Julie Roys: Wow.

So you got started, and then it kind of paused for a while, didn’t it? And then you got back in.

But you spent literally months, when you finally dove into this kind of full-time.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes. Yes, I did spend quite a bit of time looking into LifeSurge.

I attended one of the events and had a lot of back-and-forth with them before we published.

Julie Roys: Well, can you summarize the concerns raised about the company during your investigation?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Sure.

I think the main concern that I heard was that it is a bait-and-switch, which is a term that LifeSurge doesn’t like at all.

But I heard over and over again from people who went.

A lot of people who spoke with me said they went in because they heard of the big-name speakers who were going to be there.

But then once they were there, it was more of a financial pitch to sign up for classes.

Some of those people did not take the next step, but a lot of them did and learned there was even another step after that.

And there were concerns all along the way, really, about what kind of products LifeSurge was selling and promoting.

Julie Roys: And the really sad part is that some of these people spent money they didn’t have, right?

And maybe borrowed money or took out home equity loans and ended up deeply in debt as a result, and didn’t make the money that they were supposed to make.

Am I right?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, that’s right.

I spoke with several people who had an experience like that, using their 401(k), using other money that they really didn’t have to purchase this with the expectation it would make them rich.

And that’s not what happened.

I know that’s not everyone’s experience, but that is what we heard over and over again.

Julie Roys: And the thing that I find really creepy about it is you have this billed as, like, this Christian event, right?

I mean, there’s worship music. There’s almost like sermons—somewhere between an inspirational message and sermony.

But, I mean, Tebow really kind of pushes, “Hey, sign up today. Don’t hold back. God’s got something good for you.”

And it’s almost like this really unholy mix of, you know, God wants to make you rich, and being faithful to the gospel is taking risks.

And, you know, taking risks, yes, for the gospel, but not necessarily taking risks financially, and especially ones that don’t seem to pay off very well.

So again, this is something that we published on. This is a concern that we raised.

There were also concerns about the founder of LifeSurge. And he’s been in a number of lawsuits, if I’m remembering correctly.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, that’s correct.

There were many lawsuits filed before our story came out, and then there’s been additional ones since then.

So some of those have been resolved. Some of them haven’t. So that’s an ongoing thing.

Julie Roys: Well, I want to show these messages.

And I believe the first time you reached out was through instant messenger, or Messenger, on Instagram. Is that right?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Instagram, I believe, yes, was the first way I contacted them.

Julie Roys: Yes.

So here is the message that you sent initially on Tim Tebow’s Instagram.

You said:

“I’m a reporter with The Roys Report, an online news site that reports on the Christian church and community.

“I’m working on a story about LifeSurge, an event that features Tim Tebow as a speaker.

“Based on several news reports I’ve read and interviews I’ve had with several LifeSurge attendees, many people feel the event is a bait-and-switch, drawing in crowds with celebrity Christian speakers, but then using sales tactics to encourage attendees to sign up for ongoing financial classes and programs that have led to financial distress for some.

“They say the event uses Christianity to manipulate or pressure attendees to make big financial decisions that could have major implications.

“In addition, LifeSurge founder Joe Johnson is facing several lawsuits related to financial issues with his businesses.

“I’d love to speak with Tim Tebow or a representative about: How did he get connected with LifeSurge? What is his involvement in the event beyond speaking? Is he aware of the financial classes and programs LifeSurge 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 speaking lineup, only to find themselves in great financial difficulty because of programs they felt spiritually pressured to sign up for? What is his speaking fee for this event?”

And then you got a response from their team, which said, “Hi there, this is Makina with Tim’s social team. Please send all media inquiries to Tebow at Shorefire.com. Thanks for reaching out.”

So, Anne-Marie, you reached out, and we also have the email that you sent to their PR team.

And I’m not going to read that because that’s basically what you sent in the Instagram message, asking him these very specific questions.

So my question to you is, what response did you get from that email?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: I didn’t get any response from the Tebow team at all.

Julie Roys: So they never answered any of your questions?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: No, I never heard from them again after sending that email.

Julie Roys: So there’s no response.

But some might say, well, okay, if there’s no response, maybe Tim Tebow was insulated from his PR team. Maybe his PR team never really dealt with it.

But you have reason to believe that he actually did receive it because of some information you got from the LifeSurge PR team.

Can you explain that?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes.

As I was, you know, going back and forth with them several times throughout this whole process, and then again when I was on-site the day of the conference I went to, they mentioned to me that Tebow’s team had alerted them that I had reached out.

And I believe they knew specifically what I was asking.

I think, if I remember correctly, they were taking issue with the way I had worded one of the questions.

So I knew that they had received it, I knew that they had seen it, and I knew they had alerted LifeSurge about it.

Julie Roys: Hmm.

And so I’m just curious, when you heard what we just played for everyone—I mean, this clip of Tebow saying, you know, somebody asking him, “Hey, did you know about this?”

And he’s like, “Well, I was at this trafficking event.”

He doesn’t really answer the question.

But he certainly leaves the impression of, wow, this caught us off guard. I didn’t know about this.

I mean, what’s your response when you heard that?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, I have to admit I was pretty frustrated because I knew that, you know, more than a year ago I had reached out to them with these same questions—these very specific questions—that I knew they had received.

And so to hear him say that this, you know, or to indicate this was a bit of a surprise, it didn’t feel very genuine to me, having gone through this last year.

Julie Roys: And it’s really sad because, I mean, Tim Tebow, he does these wonderful events for handicapped kids, mentally handicapped kids, the proms.

I know my sister’s involved in a church, and they’re partnered with his organization to do that every year.

And she said it’s one of the highlights of the things that they do.

I’ve always liked Tim Tebow. He seems to be so upfront with his faith.

But I honestly don’t know if this is a matter of his PR team insulating him from the truth.

But it seems a little unbelievable to me that he didn’t know that, hey, The Roys Report is looking into this. They’ve sent us questions and had some discussions.

And then when we published, after we had sent them this, I mean, certainly this was all available to him at that time to read.

And actually, we weren’t the only ones that had published on this either.

There were some secular outlets that published about them before we even did. I remember reading those articles.

I mean, right? We weren’t the very first ones to publish.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: No, we weren’t.

I mean, even at the time as I was working on this, you could find plenty of other information out there, whether through other news organizations or even just, you know, groups of concerned people online expressing their thoughts and their experiences and lots of questions about the same thing.

Julie Roys: Well, I am glad that Mother Jones picked up on this.

In fact, my understanding is the reporter for Mother Jones actually reached out to you. Is that right?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, that’s right.

Julie Roys: So she had read our coverage of it. Is that what tipped her off to this, or do you not know?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: I don’t know if that was, you know, the first thing she saw about it or not.

But I do know that she did read our coverage, and we did have a discussion about that and how she could move forward with a story of her own.

Julie Roys: Yeah.

Well, and we’re always happy to help out other journalists.

Our goal is exposure, right?

I mean, we want these companies and these Christian organizations—supposedly Christian organizations—to be held accountable.

So I’m actually very grateful to Mother Jones and to Pablo Torre for looking into this and doing an investigation.

They did a great job. So I really appreciate that.

But back to your investigation a year ago, Tim Tebow isn’t the only Christian celebrity speaker to speak at these LifeSurge events.

As I recall, some of the other ones, like John Maxwell, Priscilla Shirer—who else has been on the roster?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Right. I mean, there’s been quite a few.

I know Bethany Hamilton has been there, Craig Groeschel.

There’s also, you know, musicians—David Crowder, many, many others.

Julie Roys: Chris Tomlin.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Chris Tomlin. Yes. Thank you.

Yes, another notable name.

And, you know, as I spoke with people, these were the names I was hearing about what drew them into the conference and why they wanted to attend.

Julie Roys: Yeah.

That’s the big draw, right?

And it’s not expensive. Like, for 20 bucks, something like that, you can go and hear incredible speakers and also incredible musicians that you’d probably pay more to go to a concert of theirs.

So it’s a great draw.

But then again, as people are saying, a bait-and-switch.

Now, I’m curious, these other speakers—you reached out to them as well.

Can you tell me what the response was?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes.

I reached out to many of them.

I can’t say I reached out to every single one because there’s been, I mean, dozens and dozens over the years.

But I reached out to quite a few of them, and most of them I didn’t get any response at all.

There were a couple of them that did respond and say that they were unaware of these allegations, that they’d only spoken there one time and weren’t planning to do so again.

But, I mean, that was the extent of the feedback I got from the speakers.

Julie Roys: And the ones that reached back to you, who was that?

Was that one of the Maverick City Music—

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, Chandler Moore.

Julie Roys: Chandler Moore. Yes.

And Lisa Bevere, the author.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Okay.

Julie Roys: But the other ones—I know you contacted John Maxwell, Priscilla Shirer—you didn’t hear back from them, did you?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: No, I received nothing back from them.

Julie Roys: And Maxwell’s been almost a mainstay. And so has Shirer.

And again, yeah, it’s just very, very disappointing that they didn’t even respond.

And, I mean, to my knowledge, have they continued to be involved?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: You know, I haven’t checked the most recent lists of who’s been speaking recently.

But I know that they were, for quite a while, regular speakers at the event.

And they were probably, besides Tim Tebow, the two names that I kept hearing over and over again that people were excited to see.

That’s why they wanted to go.

So I am disappointed that they didn’t respond.

Julie Roys: And you mentioned that you attended one of these live LifeSurge events.

I’m curious, what was your impression of the event?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yeah, I mean, it was a very well-produced event.

The speakers, the celebrity speakers, were very good.

I mean, they didn’t disappoint. They had a lot of things to say.

But then in between those speakers, they would bring out these unadvertised speakers who would then talk about the classes and the wealth-building piece of it.

And so going in, for me, I knew what to expect.

But I could see how people would describe it as a bait-and-switch, going in expecting to hear from, you know, this great line of speakers—which they do—but then not expecting to spend a good chunk of the time hearing from these other speakers pitching sales classes.

Julie Roys: And did you feel like it was a high-pressure pitch, or did you feel like not so much?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Very much, yes.

It was very much, you know, “Sign up right now.”

They were advertising, “If you do it now, you’re going to get this great deal.”

And yes, it very much felt like a high-pressure sales tactic.

Julie Roys: So do you think that it’s possible to speak at one of these events, or speak at multiple, multiple events like Tim Tebow did, and really have no idea what this organization is all about?

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: You know, I find it hard to believe that you could speak at as many of these events as Tim Tebow has and not know.

I mean, I could maybe give the benefit of the doubt to the speakers who’ve maybe only done one.

But it is hard for me to believe that you could be speaking at something like this regularly and not know.

I guess the best-case scenario is you haven’t done your due diligence, which that doesn’t feel great either.

But, yeah, with the coverage that’s been out there now for the last year-plus, it’s hard for me to imagine that you have no idea.

Julie Roys: So this is really a time for a lot of these celebrities to come clean.

John Maxwell, Priscilla Shirer.

Sarah Jakes Roberts has been there, I think.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Yes, that’s right.

Julie Roys: Natalie Grant, Chris Tomlin, Jonathan Roumie has been there, and, as you mentioned, Bethany Hamilton.

You know, rather than acting like you don’t have any clue, you don’t know, just be honest.

We saw red flags.

You saw red flags attending.

And it’s important, I think, when we get these red flags to do something about it.

And I think when you’re paid thousands and thousands of dollars—tens of thousands, maybe up to $100,000 for some of these huge speakers like Tim Tebow—it’s easy to look the other way.

Because you don’t want there to be a problem because you’re making a lot of money.

So it’s either that you completely lack discernment, which is ironic because some of these people are teachers of the Bible.

And as James 3:1 says, you’re held to a higher standard: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

So again, I would say, especially to the teachers: Priscilla Shirer, come on. John Maxwell, let’s go. It’s time to own up, to say something.

And I think it’s time to be honest too, to say, “Hey, I think I didn’t want to see this, and so I didn’t,” or whatever the case may be.

And if you really, truly were taken in—I just, I mean, from what I’ve seen, and I didn’t even go to a live event like you did, Anne-Marie—but from what I’ve seen, I don’t know how anybody could go and not have some checks in their spirit.

It sounds like a really gross prosperity gospel thing where they’re not just asking you to donate. They’re, like, trying to strong-arm you into taking these classes.

So, Anne-Marie, thank you so much for your fantastic reporting on LifeSurge.

And I just really appreciate it, and I appreciate you taking the time today.

So thanks.

Anne-Marie Shambaugh: Glad to do it. Thanks, Julie.

Julie Roys: Well, thanks so much for joining us for this short episode of The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church.

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Thank you.