Meet Okot Simon Peter, keyboard player for Living Stones Community Church

"Come Before Him with Joyful Songs"

Music has a unique power to move hearts, lift spirits, and draw us closer to God. Throughout scripture, we see the people of God lifting their voices, playing instruments, and using their skills to glorify Him. Worship through music is one way that Okot Simon Peter uses his talents to honor the One who gave him the gift of playing the keyboard.


Simon, Acholi by tribe, was born in 1988 during the rebel war led by Joseph Kony. He and his family left their home village and traveled to the city of Gulu for safety. The family struggled to find food, and they didn’t have anywhere to plant their own. After many years of struggling to survive, the rebels finally left Uganda in 2006, and Simon’s family and the rest of the country experienced peace for the first time in 20 years.


Simon had the opportunity to attend school up to senior 3. Then he began accepting any construction-related job that was available to him. By 2007, he found interest in learning to play the keyboard. He couldn’t afford to go to school to learn, so he watched videos online and taught himself how to play. Simon accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in 2004, and now he uses his musical gift to praise God for delivering him from his sins.


“When I play keyboard, I feel something in my heart. I feel joy and enjoy worship,” Simon said.

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms," 1 Peter 4:10.

He and his wife, Susan, have two children who he can share his passion with. He’s teaching them how to play the keyboard, and his first-born daughter, Lakica Mary, also enjoys music through singing.


In 2011, Simon was asked to be the keyboardist for Living Stones Community Church, and he was excited to accept the position. He also began working on the Abaana’s Hope farm. Over the years he moved around to different roles including the chicken caretaker, working in the grist mill, working on the landscape team, and now working in the Abaana’s Hope kitchen. His wife is also employed at Abaana’s Hope where she works on the farm.


The kitchen feeds two meals a day to over 140 employees and nearly 300 primary school students. When the Pastor Training Center (PTC) students are attending class at Abaana’s Hope, the kitchen staff also prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner for these students.


While the PTC students are on campus, Simon joins them during international worship, playing the keyboard as the students sing praises to God in their native languages. These students come from 18 different tribes, each of which have their own tribal language. During the worship service, the students take turns leading a song in their language. Those who know it join in singing, and those who don’t, keep the beat by clapping. Simon listens to the tune and matches the rhythm on the keyboard.


“One song you can sing with many languages. If you know the tune, they can sing in the different languages to the same tune,” he said.


In the kitchen, Simon’s job is to collect the firewood and maintain the fire that cooks porridge in the morning and beans and posho in the afternoon. When he has to collect wood outside of the Abaana’s Hope property, he’ll use the truck, if it’s available, or a wheelbarrow.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters," Colossians 3:23.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the community could not gather for meals at Abaana’s Hope, and the kitchen was closed. Simon and a few other employees were asked to join the security team temporarily to help protect the property and the community. When the Ugandan president lifted all the pandemic restrictions, Simon returned to serve in the kitchen.


Since then, the kitchen has been completely remodeled. In 2024, construction was completed and the new kitchen more than doubled in size, with covered seating, extra storage for supplies, and an electric lighting system to use at nighttime. In the previous kitchen structure, Simon said the smoke from cooking would fill the small space and make their eyes red. Now, this is not a problem as their workspace is large and open.  


Please pray for Simon as he continues to serve the community. Pray that he will continue to stand firm in his salvation and rely on Jesus Christ when he’s faced with difficult situations. Pray that he will have chances to counsel others who have faced similar struggles, opening an opportunity to share the gospel with them. 


By Lauren Johnson     

March 2026     

   

"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song," Psalm 95:1-2.

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