Faith and football the main focus for the Eagles at Life Surge event

Four current and former members of the Eagles — Saquon Barkley, Nick Sirianni, Cooper DeJean, and Brandon Graham — headlined a slate of celebrity speakers at Life Surge, a traveling Christian wealth conference, on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.

The seminar and its founder, Joe Johnson, have controversial histories, with Johnson or his past businesses being the subjects of fraud and mismanagement allegations and some past attendees accusing the conference of deceptive practices, The Inquirer reported on Friday.

The seminar offers $97 three-day real estate and stock market classes, at which Life Surge sells mentorships that can cost up to nearly $40,000, with on-the-spot financing from a third party available to help to cover those costs.

The Eagles organization itself was “not affiliated with the event,” a team spokesperson told The Inquirer last week.

Still, Eagles flair permeated the nine-hour-long seminar. The backdrop on the large main screen behind the speakers was a collage of Eagles photos with the “Life Surge” wordmark overlaid.

» READ MORE: Eagles stars to speak at Life Surge, a Christian wealth seminar run by founder with fraud allegations

There was no public schedule, but ticket holders received email and text reminders that Barkley would be the first speaker at 9 a.m. The upper bowl of the 21,000-seat Wells Fargo Center was closed, and several sections of the lower bowl were curtained off for the stage. The remainder of the venue, which included some floor seating, appeared full in the morning.

Before Barkley took the stage at 9:14 a.m., the main screen displayed a sizzle reel featuring Barkley’s highlights from NFL television broadcasts.

Life Surge emcee Chris Graebe led a 20-minute Q&A session with the Eagles star running back. Some questions focused on football — Graebe asked Barkley about the toughest defender he’s faced (former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, Barkley said) and whether the Eagles will win back-to-back Super Bowls.

“Of course, that’s the goal,” Barkley said.

Other questions focused on Barkley’s faith. He shared his story of growing up with a Muslim father and a Christian mother. Within the last couple of years, Barkley said his Christian faith has become a big part of his life. He said he was baptized the same day he signed a two-year, $41.2 million contract extension in March.

The Inquirer spoke to 11 attendees as they exited the Wells Fargo Center, including Kayla Jones, who said she felt like God called her to the event. She said she started a massage therapy business in Germantown, so when she saw the Life Surge ad on Instagram, she immediately purchased a ticket, thinking it would be good for her.

She said the resilience of the speakers, including Barkley, stood out to her the most.

“All the great speakers that they had and entrepreneurs, business owners, athletes, they all still have fear,” Jones said. “They’re all still humans, and we’re not any different from each other. But the only reason why they have made excellent strides is because of the steps that they decided to take to overcome that fear and to move forward.”

The next 6½ hours consisted of music and more speakers, including roughly two hours of sales pitches for the $97 real estate and stock market classes. Then, around 4 p.m., Graebe announced that Brian Dawkins, who originally was listed among the event’s guest speakers, would not appear because of a “family emergency.”

» READ MORE: Five things to know about The Inquirer’s examination of Life Surge and founder Joe Johnson

As Graebe made the announcement, one person in the crowd screamed, “Bull[bleep].” Graebe then led a prayer for Dawkins and his family.

The crowd size decreased as the day progressed. Approximately an hour and 15 minutes before the event’s conclusion, one attendee who spoke to The Inquirer said she left early to go to work, while another said she had already heard from the speakers who interested her.

Sirianni took the stage with Graebe at 5:10 p.m. Sirianni answered four questions, with topics ranging from his implementation of a championship culture within the Eagles to his “mentorship mentality.”

One of the general topics of the day was the importance of mentorship, which is incorporated in Life Surge’s advanced offerings. Its paid mentorship programs are not offered at the one-day event. Neither Sirianni nor any other Eagles representative spoke about any of Life Surge’s services.

After another sizzle reel of Eagles highlights from NFL broadcasts, DeJean and Graham joined Sirianni on stage for approximately 30 minutes. Like Barkley, they spoke about faith and football.

Sirianni noted that during the season, a former coach texted him, saying he sensed that the Eagles loved each other. Sirianni said the best teams are built on “biblical love,” as players tend to work and play harder for someone they love.

Having Eagles representatives in the building helped attract some attendees, like Bucks County resident Sheila Fox, who brought her friend, Shelley Mitchell. So did speakers like Kayleigh McEnany and John Maxwell, whom Fox said she respected as a Christian.

“They were probably the biggest draw, when I saw the Eagles were going to be here,” Fox said. “I just kept seeing the ads on Facebook, and I knew it was a faith-based thing, and I feel like I needed a little bit of a surge in my life. It was all like-minded speakers that I knew would match up with my values and align with my values and be motivational.”

Fox said she wished that the event had included more breaks, and that the organizers would have provided a schedule of when each speaker would be appearing. But otherwise she said she “had no complaints.”

“They were probably the biggest draw, when I saw the Eagles were going to be here.”

Some attendees said they didn’t realize there was going to be a financial component to Life Surge.

“I thought the speakers were very true to themselves, but some of them were a little more financial than I thought it was going to be,” Upper Chichester resident Mary Morrison said. “I thought it was going to be a little more on the religious side.”

Still, Morrison, who brought her 25-year-old daughter, Sara, with her, enjoyed the event, especially the speakers from the Eagles. Sara was one of many Life Surge attendees who came dressed in Eagles gear.

“I thought that was actually the best part, hearing about the team and what happens in the locker room,” Sara Morrison said. “I think that it showed that they had a really good team bond, which is really good. They talked more about finances than I thought they would, but it was still really good to learn about leadership and ways that we can use finances.”

All of the attendees to whom The Inquirer spoke said they would go to another Life Surge event. None of them, however, paid the $97 on Saturday for the additional three-day classes.