He previously served in the LDS Church as a
bishop, stake president,
regional representative, and
area seventy. In 2001, Callister helped release a booklet on reaching out to non-members called "Doctrine of Inclusion" and stated, "We're imperfect people...[but] we want it to be said that we're the best neighbors in the world." From 2005 to 2008 he served as
president of the church's
Canada Toronto East Mission. In 2008, while serving in Canada, he was called as a general authority and member of the
Second Quorum of the Seventy. He later served first as a counselor and then as president of the Pacific
Area, residing in
Auckland and overseeing the LDS Church's operations in
New Zealand,
Australia, and the islands of the Pacific. In 2011, he was appointed a member of the church's seven-man Presidency of the Seventy, replacing
Claudio R. M. Costa. At the church's April 2014
general conference, Callister was released as a general authority and from the Presidency of the Seventy; the resulting vacancy in the Presidency of the Seventy was filled by
Lynn G. Robbins. Callister was simultaneously
called as the general president of the church's Sunday School, succeeding
Russell T. Osguthorpe. Callister selected
John S. Tanner and
Devin G. Durrant as his counselors. In 2015, he was quoted on the topics of morality and modesty in
The Washington Post. In May 2015, the church announced that Tanner had been appointed the next president of
Brigham Young University-Hawaii. As a result, in June 2015 Durrant was called as first counselor, with Brian K. Ashton succeeding Durrant as second counselor. While Callister was serving as Sunday School General President, the church shifted to use of the "Come, Follow Me" curriculum. Consistent with recent practice of the church's
organizational presidencies serving for 5 years, Callister and his counselors were released in April 2019, with Mark L. Pace called as the new Sunday School General President. As with others previously released from the Second Quorum of the Seventy, the church refers to Callister as an emeritus general authority. ==Personal life and death==