Andersen was president of the church's France BordeauxMission from 1989 to 1992. In 1993, he was called as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.[5] As a general authority, he has been the assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department. He has also been in the presidencies of the church's Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and Europe West areas. He also served as president of the Brazil South Area. Andersen was the executive director of the Church Audiovisual Department and managed the development of the film The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd and supervised the launch of the website Mormon.org.[3] From 1997 to 2001, Andersen was a member of the general presidency of the church's Sunday School.
In 2005, Andersen became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. In this capacity, he directed the affairs of the church in the Idaho Area and in 2006, he broke ground for the construction of the Twin Falls Idaho Temple. In 2007, Andersen was reassigned to preside over the North America Southwest Area. From August 2008 to April 2009, Andersen was the senior member of the seven-man presidency. On February 14, 2009, he broke ground for the construction of The Gila Valley Arizona Temple, located in Central, Arizona.[6]
Quorum of the Twelve
In April 2009, Andersen was called by church presidentThomas S. Monson to fill the vacancy created in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by the death of Joseph B. Wirthlin the previous year. In July 2013, Andersen attended the 2013 National Scout Jamboree and spoke to the 3,000 LDS Boy Scouts in attendance, one of the larger Sunday services he has attended.[7] On July 1, 2016 Andersen threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game as part of their long-running 'Mormon Night' tradition.[8] Andersen reaffirmed the LDS Church's stance on marriage in the April 2019 general conference.[9][10] Andersen remarked, "While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not."[11]
Personal life
Andersen married Kathy Sue Williams in the Salt Lake Temple on March 20, 1975 while still students at BYU.[3] They are the parents of four children.[12]
^Apostolic seniority is generally understood to include all ordained apostles (including the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Seniority is determined by date of ordination, not by age or other factors. If two apostles are ordained on the same day, the older of the two is typically ordained first. See Succession to the presidency and Heath, Steven H. (Summer 1987). "Notes on Apostolic Succession"(PDF). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 20 (2): 44–56..
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