I live in Indiana. I am used quite often. There are a few really good reasons why churches shy away from horns:
1) You NEED the rhythm section or at least a great key/organ player. There are many times when the rhythm section is all that church truly does need.
2) Space. I am not talking about physical space, I mean musical space. If you have a screaming organist, a guitar player with great chops, a piano player with ability, a bass player with funk and finally a tasty drummer, there is not a lot of musical room left over for another lead instrument. Everyone has to give up a little space to make room for another lead instrument.
3) Choir interference. If you play out of tune or you are always tromping on choir parts, you are hurting the situation. That is something that I have seen happen over and over again and again.
4) Quality. If you are a beginner... Then you have best go back to the practice room and shed some wood. Jazz cats die in gospel music. They over play. R&B cats struggle with the keys. You cannot play melody all the time. What can you contribute if you do not have the same level of chops as the organist or the other musicians in the group. Not much really, except noise level.
5) Charts. Who writes them? Don't tell me that you won't need them. I have been playing for 25 years and most of those have been pro. Charts make things MUCH smoother. Can you read off the rhythm charts? Do you know your chord changes, scales, arpeggios, etc...
6) Expectations and Reality: The saxophone is very easy to pick up and make noise on. It is much more difficult to perfect and play at the same level as some of these cats in the rhythm section. You have to be reasonable in your requests and know your limits. That also goes for other horns as well
Look, I know that we all want to jump in there and play our music fro Jesus. I can understand the powerful desire to make a joyful noise. The reality of the situation is that we are expendible. A show can go on without us with no one being the wiser. Adding a horn is like adding icing to a cake. If you really want to make a big enough impact on a group to get a call in to play on a consistant basis, PRACTICE. Take your music as seriously as the cats in the rythm section do. Make sure that when you are called in, you know what you are doing. Make it a no brainer for the M.M. to ask you to play.
I hope this is helpful
Peace,
Wolfram