JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Billy Graham Crusade returns to Jacksonville after 14 years; 2000 was the last time the evangelistic movement visited Northeast Florida.
Graham is now 95; in November, he turns 96.
"His birthday is next month," said Will Graham, "he counts the months."
Will Graham is his grandson and said the evangelist is aging as well as can be.
"The best way to describe him is, he is old," said Graham. "There's nothing wrong with him. There is no ailment he is just old."
Old and ready to transition to the other life.
"Heaven has become a lot more like home for him," said Graham, "so I think he is really looking forward to heaven."
And if he's allowed to take a well worn cap to heaven, it just may have the Jaguars logo on it.
"He's a very brave man where he lives because he's wearing a Jacksonville Jaguars hat in panther country," said Graham.
Will Graham was in Jacksonville to announce the next level in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. They are preparing for a Festival of Hope in Jacksonville in 2015.
"I'm an evangelist. I love to preach and see people come to know Christ, that's what I'm looking forward what God is going to do in May," he said.
He met with hundreds from Jacksonville's faith based community about next years event, which some have described as a continuation of his grandfather's legacy.
"Is it a continuation? I guess you could say so," he said.
The speaker for the event will be his father Franklin Graham.
Will Graham hopes this nation remembers his grandfather as a man of integrity, a man of faith. A man who kept true to his calling.
"My grandfather was offered movie roles, he was given ambassadorship, but he turned them all down," said Graham. "He was even asked to be vice president of the United states, but he wanted to preach."
The May 2015 event will take place at Jacksonville's Veterans Coliseum.
