Life and Work History-(Genesis)

The following autobiography is a story of Tom Powell’s life and work history. It is very personal and private. If you believe mixing business and personal is inappropriate, then DO NOT read on. If you would like to read some of the details and real-life principals of Tom’s success, then please read on.

I was born in the late 1950’s in Miami, Florida. I was the youngest of five children, raised in a middle-income home. I had a loving family, a fun childhood and we all enjoyed an upbringing in a traditional Christian church. I have very fond memories of going to the beach, the city pool and even boating and camping in central Florida in the summers. My dear father worked three jobs to provide for our large family, and there wasn’t extra for the wants and desires, so I learned early on if I wanted extra things in life I would need to work for them. So, I set out early in my young entrepreneurial career, collecting newspapers and coke bottles for recycling, mowing lawns and the like.

My family moved north to the Orlando, Winter Park area in central Florida for job relocation. My dad, Don Simmons, gave our family something money can’t buy…a loving home in the country. Mom and Dad bought a small ranch and I experienced the best three years of my life. We had horses, cows, a pond, snakes, guns, and a hunting dog. It was here that I learned to love and appreciate nature. Though this was the toughest time financially for our family, it was definitely the most memorable. In my teens, I was heavily involved in athletics. I lost interest in our family’s religion and quit going to church. I began working in the summers, doing construction at age 14. I learned to frame apartment buildings and enjoyed the 1972-1975 building boom that Walt Disney World brought to Orlando. At age 15, I was recruited by my next-door neighbor for my first roofing job. I started out working 2 – 3 hours a day after basketball practice during the week, loading shingles and learning the roofing trade. On Saturdays, I had a job maintaining the J Bar J Ranch for millionaire W.M. Davis at his personal home. I spent four years running cattle and horses, washing cars, mowing, doing repairs and maintaining his three homes.

It was a God-send that the contractor who hired me recruited a Union roofer from Chicago, IL to be on my crew. My new friend, Johnny Millsap, taught me everything and anything I needed to know. Being union he knew all the codes, techniques and latest procedures, practices and safety techniques. He was a true, seasoned, ace, veteran, highly-qualified tradesman, twenty years my senior. He had a wife, large home on acreage and two kids to support. I said to myself, ‘If Johnny could make a good living at roofing, so could I.’ I thank God that he sent Johnny. He taught me most everything he knew in one year. I had taken a few classes at HCC, but by the end of my first summer with Johnny, I brought home my first paycheck larger than my dad’s and chose to forego my college education and start my career as a business owner. My dad and mom were always supportive of all my wild business ventures and actually were the motivating ones cheering me on to try my ideas and take some chances following my dreams. Johnny moved back north in 1976. I recruited my brother Dennis from Orlando and at age 19 we started our first company, Powell Bros. Roofing, and Sheet Metal Co. We roofed hundreds of houses in the Woodlands and all over Houston.

At age 25, I was still single and lonely. I realized that in the last six years I had been in love six times and could not figure out why I couldn’t keep a long-term relationship and find a wife. I was doing what I had learned in my success studies but had not realized that all the things I was buying on credit would one day become due. I had built my life on the sand and there wasn’t much of a strong foundation. As I became more and more desperate, my girlfriend and I started attending a little Assembly of God Christian church, which met in the Missouri City Fire Station #1 on Texas Parkway. I visited the little church for six months and grew in my relationship with the pastor, Larry Frick. One day during Sunday School it all became very clear to me. I had spent the last 11 years trying to succeed, trying to make a life for myself and had left my roots. I was trying to do it all outside of God’s will. I had forsaken my first love as a child and left Jesus Christ out of my life. I repented that day of my sinful ways. In the eyes of the world, I was living the Great American Dream and I had made it, 2 homes, 2 cars in the garage, a 40-acre weekend airport, a pretty girlfriend and recreational vehicles for traveling – all by age 22 yrs. old. But I had missed the most important thing, the salvation of my soul. Jesus said “What good is it if a man gains the whole world and forfeits his soul. I was miserable, poor and wretched and didn’t even know it. That Sunday morning, I committed my life back to Jesus Christ and never looked back. My life began to change dramatically. I began selling everything I could and began rebuilding. Low and behold just in time. Little did I know that within six months of this great revelation from God that Houston would go into a serious recession in “83”, and I probably would have lost everything if I hadn’t listened and sold out. I married a beautiful godly woman in 1982, and in 1990 we moved to a property on F.M. 1092. Yeah, that was us, “The Narrow Gate Ranch” with the horses, the oak trees, and the billboard sign “Jesus is the reason for the Season” at Christmas. We even constructed three wooden crosses out at the highway and decorated them at Easter time. In 1999 we began operating the company under the dba, First Colony Roofing & Siding Inc. The name was added to gain momentum and reputation in the Sugar Land market and retire the old Mom and Pop image of TOMCO (Tom’s company).

By the prayers & unconditional love of my dear mom, Sami, my dad, Don and my angelic sister Sandy Parker, I was “born again” that day in 1982. I received forgiveness for my sins and began rebuilding my life according to God’s word, the Bible. In 1983 after serving the Lord for a year developed a hunger and yearning to go deeper in my walk with Christ. I cried out for more and I experienced what the Bible calls “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit”, I was filled and empowered that day to walk and be lead by the spirit of God with greater boldness and anointing to share my new-found faith with others. I began operating in the  (9) power gifts of the spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 vs 4-11 and experiencing a supernatural power over the world, the flesh, and the devil. We raised our family there on our little city ranch on F.M. 1092. My wife and I have since moved to Greatwood to be closer to the church and get away from the hustle and bustle of Missouri City and Sugar Land traffic. Our office is conveniently located at the intersection of Crabb River Rd and F.M.762 on Gonyo Ln.

Under the leadership and teaching of the very successful pastor, teacher, author and financial expert, Ladell Graham, we have been involved in other start-up companies in the Fort Bend/Sugar Land area involving the acquisition of Sugar Land real estate and ranching. We have been blessed more than we could ever have imagined, all by the grace of God.

Click to enlarge

The mission at Misson-24 is to help young adults experience God, build relationships and serve the people on the campus, in a practical down to earth way “where the rubber meets the road”.

Misson-24 meets on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 PM at the Riverside Methodist Church. We are experiencing the revival in our body, on campus, and among the students. Students yield their hearts to God and accept Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection in their life for the forgiveness of their sins and start a new life in Christ as they continue in their education and careers.

It has been so very refreshing being part of Christian Fellowship that truly has God’s heart and is not about building programs and staff salaries but doing the work of the ministry through loving and helping people one at a time until the complete campus is under the Lordship of Christ and serving him.

We have recently been Led by God to be involved in a local body closer to our home in the Sugar Land area, called Life Changing Ministries (L.C.M.) They are not kidding! If you are tired of the traditional Church and need a new direction, this is the place. For those who are serious about a positive changs to walk out God’s will, visit the L.C.M. website. A link is available on the bottom in the resource section.

There is a wonderful, very fulfilling life with purpose and meaning for those who will say “Yes Lord” to his call and purpose for their lives. We want all who have clicked on our website and happen to read this to find their purpose in life, live out their full potential, have healthy relationships, be healthy and healed in their bodies and be financially stable, as they take the Gospel of Christ to a hurting and dying world. The scripture says, “If any man is in Christ he is a New Creation, old things have passed away and all things become new.” I invite you to experience this new life. It begins with acknowledging your sins (repentance), accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins and making a commitment to follow him and his plan for your life through His Word, the Holy Bible. If you would like one of our staff to pray with you, please call our office and we will be happy to assist you. May God richly bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and give you His Peace.

Sincerely,

Tom Powell and the staff at First Colony Roofing, Siding and Remodeling

Additional Resources

Family & Children Resources www.focusonthefamily.com
Contemporary Christian Music & News www.ksbj.org
David Wilkerson Ministries www.worldchallenge.org
International House Of Prayer www.ihopkc.org/prayerroom
Bethel Redding http://www.bethelredding.com/
Todd White www.lifestylechristianity.com
Arthur Blessit http://www.blessitt.com/
(LCM) Life Changing Ministries www.onelifechanged.com
Christian Counseling–B & S Counseling & Training Center www.bnscounseling.org
Mission 24 www.mission24.org