Bishop Hardin was a member of the General Board of Education; of the General Board of Christian Social Concerns; and president of the Council on World Service and Finance. He was a delegate to the General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference of 1960. He was a member of the Lake Junaluska Assembly and a trustee of Emory University. Bishop Hardin was installed as president of the United Methodist Church's Council of Bishops on April 15, 1971, in San Antonio, Texas. Bishop Hardin died in 1996.