Dr. Corts served as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC from July, 1963 through November, 2002. His wife, Shirley, trained hundreds of new Christians in the New Members class she led for many years.
During his time as pastor, church membership increased from approximately 125 to 6,000. Total budget grew by more than $12,000,000 (including $3,000,000 growth in the Day School budget), with over 25% of tithes, offerings, and special gifts going to missions each year.
From 1961-63 Dr. Corts worked with Youth for Christ. He traveled and participated in overseas ministry in more than fifty countries on every continent, including evangelistic crusades, mission meetings, conference and teaching ministry. He preached weekly on ShareLife, the TV ministry of Calvary, which is viewed throughout Piedmont North Carolina.
Dr. Corts served in numerous positions on the associational level in the Pilot Mountain Baptist Association. He served as President of the North Carolina Baptist Pastors' Conference in 1976; President of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, 1977-79; Chairman of the Joint Evangelistic Crusade, 1982, sponsored by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and the General Baptist Convention; member of the Committee on Committees of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1980; Chairman of the Committee on Committees of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1995; member of the Canada Study Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1984; member of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1980-90; Chairman of the Foreign Mission Board, 1988-1990; Chairman of Resolutions Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1990; former member of Fruitland Bible Institute Board of Trustees.
In November 2003, Dr. Corts was honored at the NC Baptist Pastors Conference through the establishment of a preaching award in his name.The award will be presented each year to a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Seminary who shows great potential for biblical preaching. This award was funded by gifts from the Deacons and Staff of Calvary, and remains open for others who may wish to participate.
Dr. Corts authored three key manuals which are used in the Calvary ministry: the ShareLife Evangelism (for training Christians to be witnesses), Caring Christian (Personal Ministry Program) and the Christian Way of Life (for new members) manuals. His new book, The Truth About Spiritual Warfare was released this August by B&H Publishing.
In 1997, he began a Pastor Mentoring program (Tar Heel Leadership Network) to share his almost 40 years of experience with other pastors. Over 300 pastors have participated in this year-long mentoring program.
Dr. Corts received his B.A. degree from Trinity College in Florida and did graduate study at Chicago Graduate School of Theology and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. He was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Trinity College in 1971.
