Uncle Cam

by Hefley James & Marti

The story of William Cameron Townsend founder of the Wyliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics. From rear When William Cameron Townsend arrived in Guatemala as a Bible salesman in 1917, the missionaries took one look and said, "That skinny Townsend won't last two months." They were wrong. Today at 85 Uncle Cam is still going strong, still working to bring the Bible to people whose languages have never been written. In the intervening 59 years he has packed several lifetimes of achievements including (1) learning an Indian language, translating the New Testament into it and teaching the Indians to read, and (2) starting the Summer Institute of Linguistics and the Wycliffe Bible Translators, the largest linguistic organization in the world whose more than 2000 members have reduced to writing more than 500 languages in 23 countries and translated portions of the Bible into most of them.

Genres: Biography, Christian, Nonfiction, The World

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Rebekah Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story of what God can and will do when you choose to go and do for Him! Cam Townsend was bold in his faith. He had a heart to bring the Gospel to Guatemala, and upon arrival, realized that not all Indian tribes could speak Spanish (the NT he was selling). He took 10 years to build their formerly unwritten language and translate the Bible into it. He built up communities, worked with governments, and saw that he couldn’t do this alone. He realized that there were over 3000 languages without a Bible translation. So he taught others to do what he taught himself and then this desire to spread the good news exploded! At every step, he never questioned God - he waited and worked during the waiting. His life story is incredible, and it all points back to the love he had for people, God, and the power of the Gospel.

Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute of Linguistics are thriving today due to Cam’d vision, countless generous individuals, and all the Bible translators he and his people trained up. Truly incredible. And they are getting close to starting a project in every known language by the end of this year. WOW.

Absolutely blown away. Stunning biography and amazing human. This was my first missionary biography, and it won’t be my last!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I work for Wycliffe Bible Translators, the organization founded by Cameron Townsend, but apart from that, I objectively really enjoyed this book. It isn't a panegyric: it just presents the facts of his life in a straightforward manner, and it is quite impressive. The book doesn't gloss over the controversies that he brought up, and it's amazing how far he was ahead of his time in the missions world. Many of the things valued in missions today (as reflected in movements like the Lausanne Conference and such) were focuses of Townsend back in the 50s, long before anybody else was concerned with them. He definitely had a unique vision, like few before or since. This book gave me a lot to think about, and I really enjoyed it: it was a well-written biography.

[Marije · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessant om zo meer over de ontstaansgeschiedenis van SIL te leren.

[Edwin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read about a contemporary of Billy Graham, and at least as influential, though mainly outside the US.

[Micah Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! So cool to hear all about Uncle Cam. Highly recommend.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read it for school. The beggining was pretty boring, aand when like someone important dies all it says is they died and then moves on to haw hard life is for Cam. That was the entire book. Kinda boring.

[Sara Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

This introduced me to the need and scope of Bible translation.