Who Do the Assistant Pastor's Work For?

The assistant pastors have a set of marching orders with a hidden agenda that their congregations do not generally understand. The assistant pastor is told not to question the Senior Pastor publicly even if the Senior Pastor is leading the sheep into spiritual error. This is documented clearly in Larry Taylor's book on "The Ministry of the Assisting Pastor." The assistant pastor is not free to tell you what he thinks, but is bound by the Senior Pastor. Anything else is viewed as disloyal to God. This is also documented in the book by LE Romaine, "Second". Romaine was the assisting pastor to Chuck Smith.

Are Associate Pastors Hirelings?

I think we’ve been understanding the hireling point incorrectly. Any good exegetical method starts with the context of the passage.

Jesus says who was a hireling. It was all the false Messiah’s which came before him. After him there would be false Messiah’s too, but he doesn’t call them hirelings. He call’s them False Prophets and False Messiahs.