Goshen College Assembles Team for Five-Year Storytelling Venture

Goshen College has hired five staff members for More Than Just Stories, a new media organization that is developing five innovative storytelling projects with support from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Courtney Dobrzykowski, who will serve as events manager for More Than Just Stories, was the community outreach coordinator for Purdue Polytechnic High School in South Bend for several years. Before that, she was the founding editor of Heartland News, a weekly newspaper covering Bremen, Bourbon, Nappanee and Wakarusa.

Alex Dugger joined the staff as content production manager. He is a principal software engineer with Impeligence and worked for more than a decade as a senior software engineer with the PowerSchool Group and Haiku Learning, serving more than a million users. He contributes to video production at LightBox and serves as an audiovisual technician at Goshen Theater.

Yebu Ji, a bilingual audio journalist and podcast producer since 2019, is the senior producer. She was the co-founder and executive producer of Voice Exchange, linking U.S. and Chinese podcast creators in delivering educational workshops. She produced more than 100 narrative episodes for Story FM, a leading Chinese narrative podcast with more than two million listeners. She has a master’s degree in podcasting from New York University.

Luke A. Renner, who will direct a documentary, “The Inheritance,” is an award-winning writer, producer, director and editor with more than 30 years in documentary and television work. His film “What Lies Inside: Healing in the Face of Trauma” won Best Feature Documentary at the Montreal International Film Festival and is distributed internationally.

Melissa Troyer, the marketing manager for More Than Just Stories, served for a decade as director of marketing and communications for Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart. Prior to that, she was the founder, president and editor-in-chief of inMiddlebury magazine and the founder and president of Harmony Marketing in Middlebury.

“After intensive national searches, we have brought together a talented team of media professionals who are eager to contribute stories that reflect the highest standards,” said Duane Stoltzfus, the project director of More Than Just Stories.

In November, Goshen College was awarded a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life. GC was among 5% of more than 1,100 organizations nationwide to receive planning grants in the initial round of screening.

The staff members are part of a larger roster of Goshen College faculty, staff and students that this summer will begin to launch the storytelling projects:

Just Stories — a podcast about the places where justice and faith intersect and sometimes collide

The Gratitude Letters — a podcast built on the conviction that it’s never too late — and always a good time — to say thank you

Peace Talks — a speech contest for college students to speak with courage to build peace

“The Inheritance” — a documentary film that follows a courageous group of strangers – faithful seekers, every one – who struggle to protect, uphold and salvage a spirituality that feels worthy of calling Christian

Climate Commons — a storytelling conference that highlights how people of faith are confronting climate change.

The Lilly Endowment’s storytelling initiative aims to help a wide variety of organizations seek out and share stories that illuminate the vitality of Christian faith and life in congregations and communities throughout the country.