At the time of his call to the Twelve, Andersen had been serving as an LDS general authority since 1993, including service in the Presidency of the Seventy from 2005 to 2009.

After his mission, he graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in economics and was elected student body vice president.

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.

[6] In April 2009, Andersen was called by church president Thomas S. Monson to fill the vacancy created in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by the death of Joseph B. Wirthlin the previous year.

[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.

"[11] Andersen married Kathy Sue Williams in the Salt Lake Temple on March 20, 1975 while still students at BYU.