Louisiana Voice

The late John Hays would’ve had a field day with these Life Surge guys.

For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts about John, he was a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, crude person who could be blunt to the point of cruelty and was notoriously unschooled in the professional field of journalism in which we “trained” journalists take so much (more often than not, underserved) pride.

He was also the scourge of con men, Ponzi scheme artisans who preyed on uninformed, innocent victims, many of them senior citizens, literally striking fear in the hearts of those who cheat people out of their life’s savings with false promises and visions of riches.

If you think I’m making John Hays out to be some kind of hero, you’re correct. That’s just what he was.

And though we operated as competitors for a time, he was my friend.

John, a native of Ruston, moved back home from San Antonio in the early 1970s, had a falling out with the local newspaper publisher (for whom I worked) over local political issues and out of spite, started his own paper, called appropriately the Morning Paper, in his kitchen that ultimately grew into a free circulation weekly of about 40,000 or so.

He died in August 2014, leaving a powerful legacy behind—as chronicled in this 1993 NEW YORK TIMES feature.

Perhaps Wesley Harris said better than I when he PENNED AN ARTILE about John for the Lincoln Parish Journal back in June.

The reason I invoke his name yet again is because of a recent spate of negative stories about Life Surge, a so-called Christian investment scheme that has a lot of big names behind it and which targets the Christian community for money, lots of it.

Well, shucks, there’s nothing new about “prosperity Christianity” trolling for money now, is there?

Except this one has a trio of local names near and dear to the hearts of citizens of Ruston in particular and north Louisiana in general and one can only imagine what havoc John could’ve inflicted on this scheme.

Those of us with good memories knew that when he was alive, shysters had better tread carefully when in the environs of north-central Louisiana. That was John Hays territory.

Anyway, for Life Surge, the latest get-rich-quick scheme, three of its high-profile “celebrity” spokespersons are Willie Robertson (son of the late Duck Dynasty Commander Phil Robertson, erstwhile Louisiana Tech quarterback until he was unseated by upstart Terry Bradshaw), wife Korie and the couple’s daughter, Sadie Robertson. Sadie, by the way, was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars and sang on the Duck Dynasty’s Christmas album, titled, appropriately, Duck the Halls.

The Robertson clan, sans Phil, still maintains West Monroe as its headquarters and Willie, Korie and Sadie are featured as “influential voices in faith and finance” at a series of one-day seminars across the U.S., touted as an “unforgettable experience with world-class speakers, visionary entrepreneurs, best-selling authors and renowned worship artists—all united to help you surge your life God’s way. (“worship artists”? Seriously?). It’s also heralded as “a one-day life-changing event—to steward your faith, finances & future.” Life Surge – Surge Your Life God’s Way!

Besides the Robertsons, also linked to Life Surge are Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, actor Kelsey Grammer, comedian Jeff Foxworthy, actress Patricia Heaton, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr, former baseball player David Ortiz, quarterback Russell Wilson, neurosurgeon and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Fox network hostess Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joe Montana, Magic Johnson Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla and megachurch pastor Craig Groeschel, among dozens of others.

Tebow, Mazzulla and Groeschel have since attempted to disassociate (or in Tebow’s words, “pausing”) themselves with the organization after it was accused of pressuring attendees to invest tens of thousands of dollars in real estate and stock courses.

Why? Perhaps this story in Mother Jones last Thursday (Sept. 24) had something to do with their decisions:

The Gospel of High Yields: Inside Tim Tebow’s Favorite Wealth Seminar – Mother Jones

Kiera Butler wrote about attending a seminar in Atlanta last May at which Tebow was the keynote speaker. The former University of Florida quarterback told the attendees, who Butler said numbered in the thousands, to follow.

Check out this link to Butler’s interview on this podcast VIDEO about Life Surge.

The cost to attend one of these seminars? Just $20. Of course, when you have upwards of 5,000 in attendance, the money starts to gets serious before the curtain ever goes up. But wait. There’s more. For $97, one can enroll in “SurgeU.” That’s a series of courses that promise to “surge our resources and influence through real estate and trade—for Kingdom impact,” Butler wrote, adding that the concept of “Kingdom Impact” means the more money you make, the more good works you can do.

The cost of that package is a tad more: $10,000 to $40,000 and if you want to enroll but don’t have the money to do so, organizers will happily hook you up with a third-party lender.

Life Surge CEO Jeremy Nosek denied that the organization trains its representatives to pressure attendees into borrowing or incurring debt they cannot afford. In fact, Butler wrote, large screens behind the speakers during the Atlanta event carried the periodic warning that investing in Life Surge products carried risk and that “any income or earnings shared examples are not intended to represent typical or guaranteed results for the average customer. Results vary widely and you should assume that the average person may earn little to no money or could potentially lose money.” That’s a standard disclaimer in all investment brochures and advertisements.

As P.T. Barnum told us long ago, however, it’s not difficult to find suckers investors. In 2025, Life Surge boasted, 117,000 people attended the one-day events scattered all over the country.

Karen Neal, a 61-year-old former Life Surge customer, told Butler. “…[I]t’s like, do they know what’s happening to some of these people that are getting into this?”

A Life Surge employee Butler spoke with, who requested anonymity, echoed the same sentiment: Why would Christian celebrities lend their brand to the company at all? “You’ve heard all about the people who are losing thousands and thousands of dollars [who] are being asked to cash in their 401Ks and piggyback credit cards in order to pay for these classes,” the employee said. “It just doesn’t seem like something a good Christian motivational speaker or pastor would want to be a part of.”

But the speakers could be doing so with a motivation of their own.

Butler wrote that Athlete Speakers, a speakers’ bureau estimated that motivational speakers can go for fees as high as $100,000 a pop. Tebow spoke at 10 such seminars per year in 22024 and 2025 and was on track to speak to 20 this year before hitting the pause button.

LouisianaVoice has no estimate of how often the Robertson trio speaks or at how many seminars but you have to figure it’s sufficient to feather a duck’s nest pretty comfortably.

We surely could use a John Hays today.