In this episode, Greg Nettle talks with Dean Sweetman, co-founder and co-CEO of Tithely, a digital giving platform now used by over 50,000 churches worldwide. Dean shares his remarkable journey from being a high school dropout and aspiring surfer in Australia to planting over 60 churches globally and building a church tech company processing billions in donations annually.

Key highlights:

• Dean's unconventional path into church planting across Asia, Africa, and North America.

• Why demographic research + Holy Spirit leading matters when choosing a church plant location.

• How a Starbucks app experience inspired the creation of Tithely.

• The impact of recurring digital giving on financial stability for churches.

• Future of church tech: AI, VR, and holographic gospel preaching.

Resources mentioned:

• Tithely's free tools for church planters (https://get.tithe.ly/)

• Stadia Church Planting (https://stadia.org)

• Learn more about church planting with Stadia: https://stadia.org/discovery

01:18 – Dean's early life & conversion story 02:44 – Becoming a youth pastor and seminary in Australia 04:10 – Global missions & planting churches in Asia and Africa 06:08 – Real estate and bi-vocational ministry 07:30 – Choosing Atlanta for church planting 09:13 – The power of sending leaders to plant 11:00 – Planting 60+ churches through C3 movement 13:07 – The Starbucks moment: inspiration for Tithely 16:09 – Launching the first giving app with his son 17:11 – Sabbatical and shifting from pastor to entrepreneur 18:28 – Explosive growth during COVID (12K churches in 6 weeks) 20:14 – Building an all-in-one church platform 21:11 – Discipleship through digital giving 23:31 – Tech adoption in younger generations 24:18 – Getting started with Tithely 25:01 – Power of recurring giving 26:15 – AI, AR, and the future of church tech