Tim Tebow got emotional while urging Americans to confront child sexual abuse, revealing that exploitation is not just a foreign crisis but a widespread problem occurring within the United States, often at the hands of family members.
“This is happening in our backyard,” Tebow said during a recent appearance on “The Shawn Ryan Show.” “It’s overwhelming when you think how much is done by families, by friends, by those in the trusted circle.”
Tebow, an outspoken Christian former Heisman Trophy winner and founder of the Tim Tebow Foundation, appeared on the nearly three-and-a-half-hour podcast episode to discuss his faith, family and the work his foundation is doing to combat human trafficking and child exploitation.
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Calling the trafficking and exploitation of children “one of the worst evils in the world,” Tebow said that while criminal gangs are often blamed, the majority of abuse happens closer to home.
“It’s off the charts of what is being done in the families,” he said. “One of the most heartbreaking things is that the No. 1 offender is biological fathers.”
Tebow said most perpetrators are “middle-aged, Caucasian men, many … of them college graduates” with “good jobs.”
Founded in 2010, the Tim Tebow Foundation aims to bring “Faith, Hope and Love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.” The foundation addresses child sex trafficking, medical care for vulnerable populations and support for individuals with special needs.
Tebow and Ryan, a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor, discussed the foundation’s involvement in Operation Renewed Hope, a partnership with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Interpol, Europol, Google and other organizations to identify children in a database containing more than 50,000 images of abuse.
As his emotions swelled, Tebow showed Ryan a U.S. Department of Justice “red dot map” highlighting IP addresses of individuals who had accessed, downloaded or distributed images of child rape involving children under 12 years old.
“This is over the last 30 days,” Tebow said, pointing to the map. “Every red dot … is at least one unique IP address. … There’s over 111,000 just in the U.S.”
Tebow emphasized that many of the individuals identified are not just sharing content — they’re directly abusing children.
“Fifty-five to 85% are also hands-on offenders,” Tebow said. “Your average offender has 13 victims in their lifetime. Every one of those red dots, there’s a boy or girl suffering on the other end.”
Tebow is lobbying for the passage of the Renewed Hope Act, which would increase the number of victim identification officers at HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center from seven to 200.
“This is our backyard,” Tebow said. “This is right here.”
He also pointed to data showing the U.S. is the No. 1 funder of livestreamed child rape and ranks third globally for peer-to-peer sharing of abuse material, behind China and Russia.
When Ryan asked how Tebow’s team is addressing the crisis, Tebow said it requires a multi-pronged approach — from partnering with law enforcement and NGOs to changing laws and creating awareness.
“I don’t want awareness for awareness’s sake,” Tebow said. “I want people to be aware so we act to do something.”
Tebow spoke candidly about the demographics of many offenders.
“I think it is time that we call them out like that,” he said. “Instead of being defenders and protectors of our families, we’re hurting and abusing.”
He shared a harrowing example of a man who was convicted of abusing his 18-month-old and 9-month-old children on a University of Florida Gators blanket.
“I was thinking, man, it’s probably someone that was rooting for the Gators … maybe is a fan or likes the Gators or likes when I played,” he said. “But no, this is how personal this is.”
The foundation’s investigations have uncovered perpetrators in law enforcement, sports and education. One case involved a 13-year-old girl in Texas who was raped while someone read the Bible, an act believed to be an intentional perversion to associate trauma with Scripture.
Tebow also showed Ryan a printout of messages from a dark web forum where users discussed buying and selling abuse materials and even offered instructions on how to molest children and avoid detection.
Ryan attempted to read part of the forum aloud before stopping in visible discomfort.
“There’s a lot of things that are hurtful and disturbing about it,” Tebow said. “One of the things that we’re seeing grow bit by bit is offenders that are saying, instead of finding their next victim … ‘let’s just grow our next victim’ — meaning, have a child and grow them.”
When Ryan asked what parents can do to protect their children, Tebow urged vigilance.
“Please be the protector that you’re called to be,” he said. “Sometimes that means you’re the bad guy, and you don’t give them the same access. … Get them on safer platforms. … This is a terrible evil that we have to fight back against, and it has to be as a whole.”
Toward the end of the interview, Ryan asked how people can support Tebow’s efforts.
“Pray,” Tebow said. “Talk with their families, protect their kids, protect their neighbors’ kids. … Be a protector.”
He quoted 1 Corinthians 13: “Love always protects, always believes, always hopes, always endures.”
“Use your skill set, your resources, for good,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you have to stand with us but stand for good. Stand for the most vulnerable.”
Tebow and his wife, Demi-Leigh, are expecting a daughter. He shared that her middle name comes from “one of the youngest girls we’ve ever been able to bring out of this evil and care for,” a girl rescued at just 25 days old.
“All these kids are so special,” Tebow said. “[They’re] Made in God’s image. And so many times we treat them as if they’re trash, when they’re really God’s treasure.”
“If we could take all of these lives that have gone through such torture, but they can know how treasured they are by God,” he added, “that would be everything.”
Tebow previously spoke to The Christian Post about the issue, revealing his interest started when his missionary father was preaching at an underground pastors’ conference in a place of religious intolerance.
Tebow’s father saw four girls for sale at an auction and used all the money he had to purchase their freedom.
“And he called me afterward, and it’s hard to explain,” Tebow said. “I just knew that this is one of the areas that we’ve been called into and that I knew I was called into. And that we had to step up and stand up for those four and the rest like those sweet, poor girls.”
The former athlete also said that while many Christians have given to the campaign, people who feel protective of children and care about justice also want to see this effort succeed.
An issue like this has to “break our hearts,” he stressed.
“It has to do something that’s enough for people to say, ‘Oh my goodness! Look at the number of kids in the country and around the world,'” he said. “Around the world and in our backyard, so many boys and girls are in their darkest hour of need. That’s the heart of why we care so much about this and why we are trying to rally people to this.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
