"M.E.S.H.: How to Have Mental, Emotional, Spiritual Health for Life" provides steps toward higher self-esteem and mental health by not basing self-worth on the opinions of others. "In dealing with the numbers of counselings I've done, one of the things that is a major problem is that a vast majority of people suffer from very low self-esteem," Menker said. "Part of that reason is because people tend to base their worth on what they think other people think of them. As a result, it has a dramatic effect on a person's life." Menker, a pastor for 42 years, earned a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a master of pastoral counseling degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary in Camilla, GA. He said he has about 20,000 hours of counseling experience dealing with a wide variety of life issues. He has trained lay biblical counselors in congregations and was one of the founders of the local nonprofit Living Hope Biblical Counseling Ministry, Inc. Menker said that after seeing thousands of people throughout their careers, and seeing the same problems repeated over and over again, he and co-author John Carroll, who lives in Ohio, decided to put their advice into book form. "What we've found is that every person, every action, every reaction is based on how they see themselves, how they view their own worth at any given time," Menker said. "That is the issue that we face. We combined our understandings, training and experiences into a simple 89-page book that we believe provides simple and practical answers to gain and maintain mental, emotional and spiritual health for life." Menker said he watched the various steps that people take in order to find their self-worth through others, including attention-getting antics, withdrawal, attacking others and engaging in addictive behaviors. "Basically, if they cannot define their worth through someone else, they will find another way to escape. This could lead to suicide, when this reaches a point that an addictive way to cover a pain is no longer covering the pain." As a minister, Menker said that a large part of what he feels is the solution to these problems comes from his religious background. "We're looking at one source for our affirmation because God only sees us as he created us, and he sees us as to how he wants us to be," Menker said. "That never changes. That is the only constant that is available." Menker's book is available through PublishAmerica and will be in local bookstores, with a nation-wide release July 3. (Written by Sarah Moses - Cumberland Times-News Staff Writer. The article appeared June 2, 2006. Updated 12/23/2021)