Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla and megachurch Pastor Craig Groeschel have followed former professional athlete Tim Tebow in distancing themselves from Life Surge, a touring faith-based wealth-building seminar accused of pressuring attendees to invest tens of thousands of dollars in real estate and stock courses. Mazzulla, once featured in Life Surge’s speaker showcase, no longer appears on the website after he asked them to remove his picture.
“I’m always looking for partnerships to be able to share my faith,” Mazzulla told The Boston Globe on Saturday. “It was a platform I thought made some sense for us, and when this comes out, you take your stand and move forward.” Images of Groeschel and Tebow have also been removed from the showcase.
So have images of other speakers, including former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany; Tebow’s wife, Demi Tebow; and former NFL players Emmitt Smith and Brian Dawkins. Life Surge describes itself as one of the fastest-growing businesses in the United States and seeks to teach Christians “how to create and multiply financial resources for kingdom impact.” Its flagship event, a one-day live Christian conference, drew more than 117,000 attendees in 2025.
Some disappointed participants told Mother Jones that the company, founded by entrepreneur Joe Johnson, left them in debt. One of them, Cathy Luebke, attended a Life Surge event with her husband in Carmel, Indiana, in 2024. She said the couple was pressured to invest through aggressive sales tactics that exploited their Christian faith. Life Surge disputes the allegations.
“My husband and I are very strong Christians, so when you see a product like this, you’re like, ‘well, all right, it’s a hard sell, but, you know, they’re telling us all the good stuff,’” she said, recalling how she was convinced to buy a $20,000 package of investment courses.