Country star Eric Church gave his 7,000 disciples at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre the absolution they were looking for on Thursday night.

Church set a new attendance record at the AESC when he took the stage in his trademark sunglasses and ball cap for the first stop of his Canadian Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour with special guest Colt Ford.

The singer ranged from rowdy to reflective and found himself preaching to the choir as the crowd sang along to hits off his platinum third album Chief, such as Drink In My Hand, Springsteen and Creeping.

Church, the most-nominated artist at the 2012 Country Music Association Awards, has become a household name since the 2011 release of Chief, which went platinum in the U.S. and gold in Canada and was the CMA's Album of the Year.

The Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour kicked off in Abbotsford and makes stops in Pentiction and Kamloops before heading east into the Prairies and Ontario.

For more information and tour dates see ericchurch.com/news.