Here's some stuff I've been thinking about for a week or so. I've been adding to this list as things come to me, so these aren't in any logical order.
Know the gospel first, and be able to communicate it clearly. Understand Christianity. Read the whole Bible. Especially read the New Testament. Don't neglect reading the Bible just because you're reading other literature. Also, I highly recommend reading Basic Christianity by John Stott and What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert.
Read your opposition carefully. Your first priority should be to make sure you understand what they are saying before you start thinking about why they're wrong. If there are mistakes in what they said, you're more likely to notice by reading them carefully. You also want to avoid misrepresenting them. It doesn't do anybody any good for you to refute an argument that nobody actually made.
Don't chase rabbit trails. If you chase every red herring the other person brings up, you'll never get anywhere. Stay focused, and stick to the topic. I will sometimes remind the person I'm talking to what our original topic was if I feel like they're bringing up red herrings. People are subtle when they bring up red herrings. They're never out of nowhere. They're always related to the topic in some way, but they are still evasive.
Don't just read apologetics books. Read academic books on the subject you're looking into, even by people who aren't Christians or who aren't your brand of Christian. And don't just read books about the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection happened in the context of the life, teachings, and claims of Jesus, and the historical Jesus happened in the context of first century Judaism. So read more broadly in these areas.
Read original source material. For example, don't just read books about the gospels; read the gospels, too. Also, don't just read stuff about David Hume's argument against miracles. Read Hume's actual argument by Hume himself. Sometimes commentators get stuff wrong, so you don't want to rely completely one what they say.
Be charitable and courteous. Don't assume bad motives in other people. Give them the benefit of the doubt. And don't be rude. Being rude and uncharitable is a good way to lose your audience. If you get a person's motives wrong, you'll lose credibility with them. It's best to avoid motive-mongering altogether.
Read Tactics by Greg Koukl. No matter what other book you read to prepare you to be an apologist, you need to read this one. It will help you use what you know to have effective conversations with people who disagree with you. There's no other book like this one, so it's essential reading.
Read The Ambassador's Creed by Greg Koukl. It's a short little creed that gives some very good advice about representing Christ well in apologetic encounters. I don't know why Stand to Reason doesn't display this creed more prominently on their web page like they used to. It made a big impression on me a long time ago.
Only use arguments that you personally find persuasive. Don't just throw everything that "works" out there hoping something will stick. If you only defend what you think is true for reasons you think are valid, you'll rarely get embarrassed in a debate. Besides that, it's just the honest thing to do.
Pursue subjects you're interested in and on an as needed basis. You'll get more out of a book or article if you're interested in the subject or if you need to know the information because of a situation that came up in your life. For example, if you just became friends with a Jehovah's Witness, you'll get a lot more out of The Forgotten Trinity than if you were just reading it because it was next on your list. As you pursue topics you're interested in, your interests will inevitably branch out because one thing leads to another when you're studying anything.
As painful as it may be, do take some time to read some material on critical thinking, formal logic, and fallacies.
Don't just label other people's arguments with the names of fallacies. If you think they've made a mistake, explain the mistake. Simply labeling a fallacy only annoys people and doesn't help them. Also, there's a habit some people have of misidentifying fallacies because they fit a certain pattern. When it comes to informal fallacies, there are almost always exceptions to them. So if you want to accuse somebody of committing an informal fallacy, you need to explain the mistake they made so it's clear that whatever exceptions there may be to that fallacy don't apply in their case.
Do not let your increase in knowledge make you arrogant. Stay humble, have compassion for the people you're talking to, take the high road, be patient, be kind, and remind yourself of why you're doing apologetics (hopefully not to boost your ego, but to help people who need Jesus).
Don't be a back slapper. A back slapper is somebody who will get behind any argument or any personality as long as they agree with the conclusion. Honesty requires you to be willing to say if you think an argument for God is fallacious or if you think your favorite apologist is wrong about something.
Make it your goal to communicate as clearly as you can in hopes of being understood. Avoid the temptation to dazzle people with technical language and complicated arguments you know they aren't going to get. Be patient when people misunderstand you. Take the burden on yourself to make your arguments clear. I have slacked off on this over the years because I've become lazy and impatient. I get annoyed when I can tell that somebody responds without putting forth any effort to understand me. When that happens, I'll say something like, "That is not my argument. Go read my post more carefully." But this is also why I recommended earlier to read your opposition carefully in the first place. Not only will that better prepare you to evaluate the merits of what they said, but it's just good manners.
Do some soul searching and personal reflection. Go for a walk and ask yourself, "What do I really thing about this?" or "Why do I honestly believe that?" You'd be surprised at how much this can improve your defense of the gospel. Of course if you were anything like me in my early 20's, it could also make you realize you don't have any good reasons. If you don't have any good reasons, then you need to study more. But still, as you study, think about what is being said and whether you should believe it or not, and be honest with yourself about the confidence with which you believe various things and your reasons. This goes back to what I said earlier about only using arguments that you find persuasive.
Don't shy away from saying you don't know something if you don't know. Nobody knows everything, so there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Avoid the temptation to disguise your ignorance by making stuff up.
Take a chill pill. You don't have to argue about every little thing. Choose your battles. Also, have other interests so you don't burn out and so you can remain a normal person. And don't be a sea lion. If you can see that somebody doesn't want to argue with you, leave them alone.
Define your terms, but don't get bogged down arguing over definitions. The purpose of definitions is to facilitate communication. It doesn't matter whether people are defining their words correctly as long as you understand what they mean and they understand what you mean.
When you're reading a book, take notes. Write down important points you want to remember later. Just writing stuff down helps you remember what you read, and it helps you understand as well. It's also helpful if you want to look stuff up later on since you'll know where it is. And, if you want to write a review or critique of the book, those notes help.
Reading at night while you're in bed about to go to sleep is the worst time to read stuff if you really want to learn it.
Pray for those you encounter. Ultimately, it's up to the Holy Spirit to prepare a person's heart to make them receptive to the gospel. You are, at best, a means through which God draws people to himself. So don't be discouraged that people resist your case. You could be the best apologist in the world and still not persuade people. Be the best apologist you can, but don't think it's all up to you. Pray that God will open people's hearts and call them to obedience to the gospel, and pray for yourself that you will be a good and faithful advocate for the gospel. Pray that God will lead you only into truth and protect you from error. Pray that God will give you the humility to realize when you're in the wrong and change your mind if necessary.
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