Do you remember the church world before the smartphone? 

I do.

About 15 years ago, I told a great story on a Sunday about Bob, a businessman from Washington, DC. It was a powerful part of my sermon. It was, after all, the "hot story" floating all over the Internet and preached from many pulpits. It came from a respected national ministry. A few weeks later, while visiting our nation's capital, I spontaneously mentioned the story to a friend who lives there.

He said, "I know Bob. Let me call him. Would you like to meet him?"

When he hung up the phone, he said, "He will meet with us, but only under one condition: We can't talk about that story."

I asked, "Why not?"

"Because he just said it's not true."

Oops. I would like to have that Sunday back!

That was then; this is now. Today, if the story sounds too good to be true, before you're even done telling it, one of your congregants can already know it's not true. Not only can they do it, they will do it - especially the younger members of your congregation, the millennials, armed with smartphones and the wherewithal to use them.

In "How Technology is Changing Millennial Faith," the Barna Group explains our current reality: "Now with the ability to fact-check at their fingertips, Millennials aren't taking the teaching of faith leaders for granted. In fact, 14 percent of Millennials say they search to verify something a faith leader has said. A striking 38 percent of practicing Christian Millennials say the same."

Whether they are checking or not, the truth matters, and consequently, your trustworthiness is up for grabs. Nevertheless, because they are checking whether what you say is true, so should you. Sermon integrity matters. It's huge.

It's not just a matter of validating great stories. Validate every part of your sermon - statistics, quotations, names, logic, math and even citations from the Scripture. The fallout of bad facts is not worth the shortcuts.

Bad facts are distracting. Listeners unhook from the worship experience when they discover you've said something untrue. The interference to sort out the incorrect information can cloud the hearing of the rest of the sermon, befuddle their prayer and singing and, ultimately, divert them from responding to the work of the Holy Spirit. Bad facts are a tool of the enemy.

Bad facts damage your credibility. Like it or not, when 1 percent of what you say is not true, it casts doubt on the 99 percent that is. Truth be told, you would treat the car salesman who fudges here and there the same way your audience is treating you. Your reputation in all things is a result of your reputation in small things. A bad fact here and a bad fact there do your character no favors.

Bad facts do not honor God. People in the pew want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, which, by the way, is a great way to describe and reflect the character of God. Giving bad      information on purpose is sinful. Giving it because you're too lazy to do your research isn't much better. As a kid, my mother attached this verse to every report card I brought home: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).

I suggest we also attach this apostolic advice to our preaching, especially since Paul's original intent was to encourage Timothy toward sound teaching and warn him to stay away from sloppy doctrine.

It comes down to this: The careful preacher fact-checks. Consider these practical tips for getting your stories straight.

1. Assume the worst. Without becoming an out-and-out skeptic, assume every story and statistic you hear (even from other religious leaders) might be untrue, or at least partially inaccurate. For example, perhaps you hear the divorce rate is as high in the church as it is outside the church. Even if you heard it at a church conference, that does not make it true, especially if it's not - which, by the way, it's not. (See Bob Smietana, "False Facts: Why We Love Bad Stats," Facts & Trends, January 7, 2014.)

2. Just Google it! Anything and everything you'd ever want to know can be found with a simple Internet search. It's amazing how this has changed the world. Guess what? As quickly as members of your congregation can search to find whether you're telling the truth during a sermon, you can confirm you're telling the truth when preparing the sermon. Two minutes.

3. Utilize a fact-checking site. My friend Karl Vaters, pastor at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, Calif., offers this practical advice in "4 Ways People are Fact-Checking Your Preaching" for Ministry Today (March/April 2015): "Snopes your stories. I've learned never to trust a story that fits my worldview too perfectly. After all, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is."

So, whether you choose Snopes.com, TruthOrFiction.com, HoaxSlayer.com or another resource, benefit from the cumulative wisdom of others.

4. Cite your sources. Put in your notes the bibliographic information of every source. It's there if you need it later. If you can't find a source, your information is probably flimsy.

5. Cite your verses. Make sure you're actually quoting the Bible when you say you are (e.g., "Cleanliness is next to godliness" is not in the Bible).

Also, do your best to give the correct biblical reference when you cite a verse so listeners can find it and read it, too. Every detail adds to your credibility 

6. Check the data. Check the dates (e.g., if you are not sure whether the Enlightenment happened in the 17th or 18th century, check it). Check the math (e.g., if you say 9/11 happened 14 years ago, do the math: 2015 - 2001 = 14). Check the directions (e.g., Rome is northwest of Jerusalem, whereas Jerusalem is southeast of Rome, etc.).

7. Check pronunciations. You can either, with confidence, fake your way through the list of biblical names and cities in your given passage, or you can listen and trust the way Max McLean and BibleGateway.com pronounce them. They've done their research, and they pronounce the names appropriately. Check anything and everything that seems odd.

8. Steer clear of email spam. Not only are the stories often untrue, they are almost always overused. If you've seen it multiple times, your audience has seen it, too. There's nothing worse than telling a crucial story when the majority of the crowd already knows the punch line!

9. Use original, recent content. It's always most powerful to tell personal stories from your last week, for you will be telling (1) something you've never told before, (2) something contemporary to your context and (3) the truth, for it's harder, although not impossible, to lie about something that happened last week.

10. Prepare as a sermon team. Another friend, Mike Quinn, is the pastor of Newbreak Church in San Diego. All his sermons are prepared alongside the other campus pastors and team members in his unique network. Even before he had a larger paid staff, he prepared his sermons in advance with a volunteer team. He stocks his team with lots of different skill sets and vantage points.

"When you have lots of eyes on your illustrations and your facts, you tend to vet out the false information," Quinn says.

So, consider preparing your message alongside others. This reduces the risk of passing along bogus material.

You cannot outlaw smartphones from worship. They simply aren't going away. In fact, they are only going to get smarter and smarter as technology gets faster and faster. They're here to stay.

So, how should a preacher respond?

Address them. Teach the appropriate use of electronics in a worship setting. What's helpful and what's not? Rather than pretending everybody is paying attention to the worship experience, stop and authentically call for behavior that focuses on sacred worship. Teach them how to worship in a media-saturated world.

Employ them. Every once in awhile, ask attendees to use their smartphones for spiritual purposes. Find ways to engage the audience in biblical research that will help them discover eternal truths. They'll surprise you. I love how Vaters views this opportunity in "4 Ways People are Fact-Checking Your Preaching": "Just when too many people were ready to write off the Millennials as apathetic slackers, they prove themselves to be high-tech Bereans."

Trust them. As they trust you because you are trustworthy, be aware of the openings for electronic ministry dialogue that spring from this sacred trust. Trust is built on truth. As you proclaim God's Word with compassion and truth, they will respond with trust.

So do you remember the church world before the smartphone? I do, but I like the world we're in now. It has sharpened my craft and made me need God's power all the more, for as smart as my smartphone may be, nothing beats a smart connection to the Smartest One.

The smart - and honest - preacher will stay linked to Him.