Tim Tebow

Comfort Zones and Callings

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Comfort Zones and Callings

A conversation between Tim Tebow — author and founder of the Tim Tebow Foundation — and host Brent Beshore.

Content note: This conversation discusses human trafficking and child exploitation. It is handled with care, but may not be suitable for all readers.

INTRODUCTION

Brent Beshore: I’m so glad to have you here.

Tim: Thank you for having me, and thank you for everything that you do.

Brent Beshore: I’m so grateful for you and your heart — your heart of success, but more importantly your heart for others.

Tim: Thanks for saying that.

What the Foundation Actually Does

Brent Beshore: One of the things I’ve had the privilege of seeing when I spend time with you is the work you do behind the scenes. You’re so humble about it — you don’t talk about it. But I’d actually like to tell the people tonight the real, stripped-down version of what day-to-day, week-to-week looks like in your world. Separate from sports — they see that on TV, that’s above the line. What does the Tebow Foundation actually do? What’s the depth of it?

Tim: Well, thanks for starting out with the easy question.

To sum it up, our mission statement is to bring faith, hope, and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need. And we’re so fortunate to do that in just over 115 countries around the world.

Crisis, conflict, chaos — it’s where we want to go. We’re called to the hardest places, here in the States and around the world, fighting against the evil. And let’s not get it twisted: there’s a battle of good and evil taking place.

If you don’t believe it, look at the statistics. Over 700 million people around the world are malnourished. At least 153 million orphans or abandoned kids. More than 50 million people being trafficked. Over 400 million boys and girls will be exploited, sexually abused, or abused this year around the world.

The Golf Course

Tim: A few months ago, I was playing in a ministry golf tournament. My foursome was three other people — probably three of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the state.

We’re on the second or third hole and I get a call from our VP of trafficking and exploitation. I said, “Hey, Camille, what’s up?” She said, “It’s a terrible thing. Twelve girls — some terrible things just happened.”

And the first man goes, “Oh no, don’t tell me. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know — because it makes me think of my kids.”

I was already emotional and irritated from the evil that had just happened, and I was not in a good state of humility. I looked at him and the other two men and said, “If those girls could hear you right now — what hope do they have?”

What if we put the boys and girls first, and we put the credit last? Or we just said credit doesn’t matter? What if we did that?

It’s Happening Here

Tim: We’re the third largest in the world in the trading of child sexual abuse material — China, Russia, the US. You don’t hear that on the news. But that’s what’s happening in our backyard.

Every single day here in the States, 300,000 new sex ads go up. Thousands and thousands of them are of young boys and girls.

I’ll give you business men and women an example: would you ever go start a company having no idea, doing no research?

Around the world, 25,000 people enter into human trafficking every day — and only 500 exit. Do we have wins? Absolutely. So many wins. But in the macro? No — we’re losing. We’re getting beat.

One of the reasons: those with the goal to do evil often work better than those with the goal to do good. I could show you a book this thick — an offender manual on how to best abuse boys and girls and get away with it.

That’s way too long of an answer, but it’s a little of what we fight against every day.

An AI Rescue in Tennessee

Brent Beshore: How are you guys using AI and pattern recognition — and what are some of the results? It’s one of the coolest projects I’ve heard about.

Tim: We believe we’re not going to push back evil by staying the status quo. We’ve got to change our strategies, change the game — because our goal is to safeguard as many as we can. We want a big vision, because we serve a God who can help us do it.

A few months ago, one of the three-letter agencies sent us a blurred photo of two girls being sold online. They couldn’t identify or locate them. Within 30 minutes, because of this incredible technology, we were able to identify them. Within two hours, law enforcement rescued them.

And this wasn’t “over there.” It was two girls in Tennessee.

The technology was originally created for inventory management — how many bananas or heads of lettuce are on a truck. Well, if we can do that, we can also tell you how much fentanyl is there, or how many boys and girls are there. There’s a group of amazing people fighting back, but we have to do it in every space.

The Sextortion Crisis

Tim: In 2024, Meta took down around 74,000 accounts from Nigeria alone that were being used to sextort American boys and girls. They act like they’re a young girl or boy, lure your sons and daughters into showing a picture, then sextort them and force them to give money.

We’ve had dozens of boys take their own lives because they were living in such shame from it. We have to fight back in every way.

It’s like taking your kids to a playground, dropping them off, and knowing hundreds of predators were walking around surveilling them. I don’t say that so we’d be scared. I say it so we’d know the reality of what’s taking place — because it’s a battle we’re fighting in every area, and we have to do better.

Identity

Brent Beshore: I want to talk about identity for a moment. What’s the underlying motivation to get involved in the things you’re doing?

Tim: Good question. I’ve failed many times at having the right idea of my identity. I get caught up thinking my identity is what I’ve accomplished or failed at, or what other people think of me. But ultimately, as a follower of Jesus, I believe my true identity is being redeemed because of the blood of the cross.

One of the things that inspires me is understanding the true value and worth of every single person on planet Earth — not the way we see them, the way God sees them. Every single person is made in God’s image: on purpose, for a purpose, in love, by love, and for love. Yet how many times do we look by, look past, look around?

The Penny and the Diamond Ring

Tim: If I dropped a penny, you’d say, “Bro, it’s a penny — who cares?”

But if my wife dropped her diamond ring and I said, “Brent, help me find it,” you’d stop and look — because you know it’s valuable to her, and innately valuable.

So how often in our society do we treat image-bearers of our Creator like something worth looking past? So many people are begging us to stop looking away — to look again, and do something about it.

Comfort or Compassion

Tim: In our society, we’ve become so at ease with seeing people suffering and thinking it’s somebody else’s job. Comfort is a big part of it. How many times have I not done something because I was more concerned with comfort than compassion?

If someone says, “I don’t know if I really want to hurt when they hurt” — we love you, and God loves you, but this ain’t the right place for you, because we don’t want to get callous to people’s pain. We want to dive into where people are suffering, because our God is near to the brokenhearted. That means I want to be, too.

If we’re going to seek comfort, I don’t believe we’ll also be compassionate — because compassion comes from the Greek word splanchnizomai, which means to be moved from your innermost being.

If we want to make a bigger impact, it’s going to be a compassionate life, not a comfortable life.

Getting Plugged In

Brent Beshore: I’m thinking about all the people in the audience who are in comfort — serving their families well, their businesses well, doing the right things — and they frankly don’t know how to get plugged in. They hear this and they’re like, “Yeah, I want that.” What do they do? [The Foundation offers many ways to serve.] My church brings that here to town, and it’s an unbelievable night. And that’s just one of the many things the Tebow Foundation does. Thank you, Tim — for being here, being a friend, caring about the mission you’ve been put on, and truly doing the work. I’m so grateful for you, brother.

Tim: Thank you very much, man. Thank you guys so much for having us.

Tim Tebow spoke at Main Street Summit 2025. Learn more about the Tim Tebow Foundation at timtebowfoundation.org.