Tim Tebow's Incredible Mission to Rescue Kids From Human Trafficking, Child Exploitation

Tim Tebow has distinguished himself on the field — and off, with his devout Christian faith inspiring his life and work.

His latest endeavor through the Tim Tebow Foundation is the UnKNOWN and UnFINISHED campaign, an effort to rescue children from the horrific bowels of human trafficking.

Listen to them on the latest episode of “Quick Start”

“We believe it’s one of the worst evils in the world,” Tebow recently told CBN News. “When you look at the world of trafficking and child exploitation, there’s so many people [whose] lives are at stake, and lives are on the line every single day.”

The newfound effort builds upon last year’s initiative known as the Unknown campaign, an endeavor named for the 50,000 boys and girls whose abuse has been seen by law enforcement via videos and images but who have not yet been identified.

Tebow said his goal is to help “through technology, through legislation, through law enforcement, through operations” to identify and rescue these children. Rather than move on to a new campaign this year, he and his foundation were moved to continue working to find these children.

“We call it Unknown and Unfinished, because we’ve got to get to as many of these boys and girls as possible,” Tebow said. “And when we look at the scale, just so people can understand it … within the last 12 months, there’s been over 500,000 unique IP addresses that have downloaded or shared images or videos of children under the age of 12 being abused.”

He continued, “And we know that 55% to 85% of those sharers and downloaders are also hands-on offenders, and your average offender has 13 victims.”

The horrific events impacting children do not get enough attention, Tebow believes.

“It’s one of the worst evils in the world,” he said. “And it’s also one of the fastest-growing evils in the world.”

Tebow said he can’t imagine ignoring victims’ plights, especially considering reports the average girl is abused multiple times each day.

“How could I live on my timeline knowing that she has to handle that one more day?” he said. “As an image bearer of our creator, as someone that Jesus died for, for me to sit here and to be comfortable while she is so uncomfortable, it should make me agonized; it should put a burden on me.”

Tebow believes Christians are called to care for the hurting and broken-hearted, calling the ability to do so a true “blessing.”

The ex-NFL star, who could be doing anything with his time after spending three seasons in the league, also explained why he’s devoting his time to fighting trafficking, among other important social issues.

“I think it would probably stem back to when I was 15 years old, and I was in the jungles of the Philippines, and I had the privilege of meeting an incredible young boy who was born with his feet on backwards,” Tebow said. “But, because he was born that way, his village looked at him as less than, insignificant, and they treated him as if he were cursed, and they treated him as a throw-away.”

But Tebow said he knew God saw this boy as valuable. Looking back, he now knows that boy’s story was used by God to motivate the ex-football star to advocate for people like that child.

“I just felt like God was totally pricking my heart and wrecking my heart saying, ‘Yeah, Timmy, you know he’s not a throwaway to me, but what is he gonna be to you’ — meaning, ‘What are you actually gonna do about it?'”

Ultimately, Tebow decided to go on a quest to fight for those in need, going on to help orphans and to serve the special needs community, among others.

“The first thing we did when I graduated from Florida was to start the foundation with the mission statement to bring faith, hope, and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need,” he said. “To really sum it up, to fight for people that can’t fight for themselves.”

And that brings us back to the UnKNOWN and UnFINISHED campaign, an effort Tebow heralded.

“Probably what has inspired me most has been the lives we’ve been able to … touch with our amazing partners … [in] law enforcement and other nonprofits,” he said. “Because one of our non-negotiables is that there’s power when we come together.”

It’s in coalescing to help victims that Tebow sees the most impact, though he believes the credit always belongs to the Lord.

“There’s only one person that deserves credit and that’s King Jesus,” he said. “And we need to be on mission for Him.”

Tebow continued, “We get to serve a God that’s already won for us.”

The ex-NFL star said hundreds of stories have remained with him throughout his advocacy, but that one girl in particular is top of mind. He said her story is “horrific,” but that her perseverance is incredible.

“Her courage is unmatched by many, and what she has overcome after years, and years of being abused and sold by the people that were supposed to love her, the people that were supposed to teach her faith, hope, and love,” Tebow said. “The people that were supposed to protect her were the first people to sell her, the first people to abuse her, the first people to hurt her.”

He said watching that girl heal has been incredible — and that knowing he’s been able to help has been humbling. Find out more about the UnKNOWN and UnFINISHED campaign.