Phones in Church

Sorry, but I couldn't resist sharing this one….

A man in NYC decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and started working east from there. Going to a very large   
church, he began taking photographs and making notes. 

He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign which read: "Calls: $10,000 a minute."  Seeking out the preacher, he asked about the phone and the sign.
  
The preacher answered that this golden phone was, in fact, a direct line to heaven and if he paid the price, he could talk directly to GOD.

The man thanked the preacher and went on his way.  As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and around the United States, he found more phones, each with the same sign, and always the same answer from each preacher.

Finally, he arrived in Georgia, and upon entering a church in Valdosta, behold--he saw the usual golden telephone.  But this time, the sign read: "Calls: 35 cents." 
  
Fascinated, he asked to talk to the preacher.  "Preacher, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found the golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to GOD, but in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads only 35 cents a call. Why?"
 
The preacher, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in the South now. This is God's Country.  It's a local call."