Tim Tebow Speaks at Regent University Night of Giving
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (Apr. 17, 2025) – Regent University hosted a Night of Giving: Sports Spectacular on April 13, featuring legendary athlete and best-selling author Tim Tebow as the keynote speaker. The unforgettable community event, held at the Founders Inn in Virginia Beach, celebrated Regent’s expanding collegiate sports program and vision for campus growth.
The money raised at the fun-filled Sports Spectacular benefited the Royals Rise Capital Campaign. The campaign supports the construction of a 31-acre campus expansion, including a state-of-the-art Athletics & Fitness Center—all designed to strengthen the Regent Royals athletic program and enrich the health and well-being of the entire community.
The evening opened with a lively welcome reception filled with game-day treats and entertainment alongside Royals athletes and beloved mascot Rex the Royal. A team-spirited crowd showed enthusiasm for the proposed game-changing facility, took selfies with their favorite Regent players, and bid on exclusive auction items, including 25 prized sports memorabilia personally signed by Tim Tebow.
Following the reception, attendees headed to the ballroom for an elegant dinner and program of events with Rae Pearson Benn, Director of Communications for Regent, who served as the mistress of ceremonies.
Program of Events
The event program opened with warm greetings and recognition of dignitaries. Presenting sponsor Operation Blessing offered opening remarks.
“Everything Regent does is done with excellence,” shared Drew Friedrich, COO of Operation Blessing. “This facility is more than a few fields or a gymnasium—this is an investment in people. In potential. In purpose. And ultimately, in Christian leadership that will change the world. Thank you for being part of that vision tonight.”
Mayor of Virginia Beach and Regent professor and alumnus (SBL ’01), Robert “Bobby” Dyer, gave the invocation and expressed his support for Regent.
“As mayor of Virginia Beach, and as a proud alumnus and faculty member at Regent University, I’m so grateful for the important work Regent is doing in our great city and around the world. The students here are being equipped as Christian leaders to change the world. I couldn’t be more excited about this campus expansion and what it means, not only for Regent, but for a better, brighter future in our community,” he noted.
Next, Benn introduced and moderated the Sports Spectacular News Desk, which featured a roundtable discussion with Michael W. Allen, Director of Athletics for Regent, Regent alumna Marelly Balentina (RSG ’22), and Regent student Ernest Park (CAS ’27).
Park opened by citing what drew him to Regent: “It was Christian leadership to change the world. It’s more than something sketched on the walls.” Later, Park shared how future Regent athletes will apply that motto just as he has, citing a recent example of him and another student, Austin Graves (CAS ’27), serving Hurricane Helene victims by collecting relief supplies and using their own money to rent a plane to carry humanitarian aid to North Carolina. (Read the full story here.)
“This evening is a dream come true,” explained Allen. “I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Robertson three years ago to hear his heart and vision for the athletics facility. It’s truly a blessing and an honor to be part of building his vision for the student-athletes and the Regent community.”
Balentina, who left her home country of Curacao to pursue her dreams in the U.S., wanted a university to help her grow spiritually. After much prayer and confirmation from the Lord, Balentina came to Regent and went on to set seven records in track and field and gain five all-American titles. She won the NCCAA national championship for the javelin in 2022, and she is preparing to compete in the Olypmics in 2028.
Balentina said, “Because of what we’ve been given, we hold the key as givers to open the door for other students. You have the key to open up the athletics facility. I’m willing to use my key. Are you willing to use yours?” (Read more about this Olympic Games hopeful here.)
Chancellor Gordon Robertson then took to the stage to introduce the keynote speaker. He shared that “out of all of Tim Tebow’s accomplishments, what’s really on his heart are the children being exploited.”
Robertson went on to share how Tebow’s mother was encouraged to terminate her pregnancy after nearly dying and waking from a coma. Doctors insisted that her baby boy would be stillborn. She refused, trusting God instead.
“What a difference one life can make to help the least of these,” said Robertson.
Passionate Keynote Speech From Tim Tebow
From the start, Tim Tebow showcased his fantastic humor, making jokes about rival football teams.
As Tebow began to share from the heart, his passion for Christ and those who are most vulnerable took center stage.
Tebow shared a story about Albert Einstein that highlights an important lesson. In the tale, Einstein is on a train and can’t find his ticket when the conductor comes to check. Recognizing Einstein, the conductor reassures him that it’s fine and that he knows who he is. However, Einstein insists on searching for his ticket. The conductor returns and again tells him not to worry. Einstein then famously responds, “Young man, I know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”
Illustrating that understanding your identity is not the same as knowing your purpose, Tebow connected this lesson to students, noting that while students may not yet know where they’re headed, that’s precisely why they are at Regent: To learn where they’re going.
Tebow went on to share a personal anecdote about not knowing what to do or where to go when he was being drafted to play football. He narrowed his choice to two universities—Alabama and Florida—but insisted he couldn’t decide. He asked his family if he should go but said, to his frustration, that nobody wanted to be responsible for swaying him in the wrong direction, so they would make statements like, ‘We trust you. You’ll make a good decision.’
Tebow said that in the final hour of his scheduled televised draft announcement, he was still uncertain where to go when his father offered this nugget of wisdom: “What if it wasn’t about the people but just one person?”
Tebow realized at that moment that although he loved and respected both coaches (i.e., Mike Shula, AL; Urban Meyer, FL), Meyer had “painted a vision of where they could be with him on the team and a belief that we could do it.”
Tebow told the audience that showing Regent’s student-athletes where they could be is step one. “But we also need people to believe in that vision,” he stressed, adding, “They need to be at a place where they receive that vision,” which is why Regent supporters must show students that we have a plan for them and are willing to invest in their lives and help them access the resources they need.
Tebow expressed the importance of developing the next generation of Christian leaders to go out into the world and spread the Gospel. He said the world tells you: “You’re not enough, you’re not equipped. However, you are not defined by your scars but by His scars. It’s not who I am but whose I am.”
In addressing the audience about what they could do to make a difference in Regent students’ lives, Tebow asked this question: “How worth it are they to us to be MVPs who know THE MVP who goes after His MVPs?”
Tebow says he learned after a life-altering mission trip to the Philippines that the game is not the most important thing, after meeting a boy living in complete poverty who happened to be wearing a Gator’s jersey with his name on it. He said he felt conflicted. As he grappled with his thoughts, everything became clear: “Which one matters more? The boy or the jersey?”
Tebow says he is so grateful for that day, as it showed him what’s most important: impacting people’s lives. He challenged the audience to invest in the student-athletes by giving generously to help build the athletics facilities.
“Give even when it hurts,” said Tebow, citing a story of how Mother Teresa turned down a large donation because the amount was insignificant to the young man. She disciplined him, saying, ‘If it doesn’t hurt, I don’t want it.’ The young man then wrote a much larger check and, this time, said, ‘Now, this hurts.’
“I can’t wait to see the ripple effects from now to eternity,” Tebow continued, encouraging the audience to be generous to Regent’s vision as he emphasized how it will change lives, impact communities, and have a long-lasting impact on God’s Kingdom.
Give Generously to Help Build Regent’s Athletic & Fitness Center
Please help us shape the trajectory of Regent Athletics so we can equip student-athletes to make a significant impact in the world. We invite you to make your best gift today at regent.edu/royalsrise.