Doing work for churches usually ends up in you negotiating something just above charity pay - gotta be honest. Do work for OTHER churches you don't know - come in and do their directory photos/portraits/architectural shots, but come in AS A PHOTOGRAPHER - not a local guy who just bought a nice camera.

I'm not slamming churches - I hope NO ONE takes the above satement as that - just past experience. Chrches are a great way to get your name "known" but you won't make much money off of them.

I hated shooting weddings as well, but they pay some good bills. And if you're even a slightly decent salesman, you can get some extra print jobs from it.

As far as "starting" the biz for yourself, if there's ANY way you can use your own money,do it. At best use one of your credit cards to get some basic equipment - camera, a light or two, Photoshop, printer, etc.

I LOVE my D200 - the D40 will be useless o you as it doesn't have an AF motor built into the BODY - they have to be built into the lenses you buy, and they won't be as strong (if you're talking Nikon - if you really meant the 40D, I have no experience using Canon for my work, but they make just a good a quality product IMO - I used to SELL Canon products at a pro-shop).

Don't underbid just to get the job. They can smell that you need the work and will nickel and dime you - or worse yet, by targeting yourself to the cheap public you will be forced to negotiate every little thing. When I used to charge by the roll of film for a wedding (as well as my time) I actually had epople asking me, "...what if you only used TWO rooollllssss....?" If you're out of the bargain basemen price category, eithert they won't call, or won't call BACK, and you'll never have to argue with them (I always noticed they got twitchy as far as the finished product - figuring they could complain about the quality and negotiate even MORE off the price, or even a portion of a refund).

Another problem with underbidding is your price gets around - you get the next job by word of mouth, only the LAST mouth told them what they paid - good luck raising the price.
This is a tough gig - I'll be honest. I've found commercial work to be more to my liking, and I now do a lot of product photography ( LOTS of jewelry). I know people who do portraits and LOVE it - some just kids portraits, and some only retired age groups. Some people can do actor's head-shots all day every day and love every minute of it - find what you LOVE and concentrate on doing THAT kind of photography. You'll do a better job at it, and you'll look forward to the shoots - and if you're good at it, you'll find clients and know how to sell yourself and put together estimates based on your time and equipment needs.

I hope this helps - good luck, it's a fun ride!
-Lew ;-)