 On 6 April 1970, church president Joseph Fielding Smith released Anderson from his secretarial duties and called him to serve as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.When that calling was abolished in 1976, Anderson was ordained a Seventy and became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.In 1978, Anderson became an emeritus general authority and was relieved of his day-to-day duties as a Seventy.