From the Plantation High School Step team to the balloons at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, it was a Super Bowl-type atmosphere at the Eighth Annual Prayer Breakfast for the YMCA of South Palm Beach County. Bob and Pam Tebow, the parents of former Heisman Trophy-winning University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, addressed over 500 people.

The Tebows spoke of the challenges and life lessons from raising their five children. In this, they said, God had blessed them as Christian parents.

“We decided we would trust our master,” Pam Tebow stated, as she took the podium from her missionary pastor husband of over 40 years. Pam was referring to her decision not to follow doctors’ recommendations to have an abortion after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening infection. At the time, she was pregnant with Tim, her Heisman Trophy-winning son.

A controversial Super Bowl commercial has given new life to the Bob Tebow Evangelical mission. The 30-second commercial, which aired twice during the Super Bowl in February, featured Pam and Tim Tebow, and described their pro-life stance.

Many commentators said the commercial was inappropriate for the Super Bowl, but Pam Tebow told the crowd that after the TV ad aired, Focus on the Family, the nonprofit evangelical organization that sponsored the ads, got one million hits on its Web site.

In a large conference room at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, Pam and Bob Tebow spoke to the group about the values they instilled in their five children through religion and athletics. Bob left most of the speaking to his wife, who lovingly referred to her youngest son as “Timmy” and sang Bible verses to the same tunes that helped her children memorize them.

The Tebows met at the University of Florida and decided to pursue missionary work. They brought their four older children to the Philippines. They said Bob Tebow prayed that their fifth child, Tim, would be a son who would become a preacher. The Tebows have been involved in missionary work in the Philippines for the past 25 years.

Their children, now ages 21 to 35, were home-schooled and taught to memorize Bible passages that emphasized close relationships, self-sacrifice and humility. Pam actually recited and sang several of her favorite child-rearing verses to the crowd, and explained that was how she taught her children to memorize them.

“You need to instill humility at 5, 6 and 7 years old,” Pam explained. “You don’t want them to think they’re better because they play sports.”

Each of their children has continued their parents’ Christian mission. They return to the Philippines in the summers and help with the newly created Tim Tebow Foundation, which works with Christian orphanages and prisons.

“We wanted to send them out to be influential – to lead significant lives,” Pam stated. “We wanted to pass on that confidence in God.”

James C. Wilhelm, business owner and author, expressed his opinion about the inspirational morning: “The Tebows are true blessings and living images of how God has built a foundation of parenting following His words to serve and give Him the glory.”

The prayer breakfast is the largest annual fund-raiser for the YMCA of South Palm Beach County, and has had both Wally “Famous” Amos and Rich DeVos, Amway cofounder and Orlando Magic owner, as keynote speakers. All of the money raised goes toward scholarships for local children who can’t afford to participate in YMCA’s activities.

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