how to render a welcome page in page--front.tpl.php
Login as admin to the site, visit "admin/config/system/site-information" , scroll down to find setting for for front page and then form "Default front page" set the node relative path to be used as default front page that looks like "welcome-message" in your case. 

with the above process you have informed drupal to use the node you have created as front page.

Now remove the hard-coded page front template you have created before as "page--front.tpl.php" because it will be used over the node till its present there.

clear your caches.